A Yankee on the Yangtze; being a narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the central kingdom to Burma

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A YANKEE ON THE YANGTZE.

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YANKEE ON THE
YANGTZE

BEING A NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY
FROM SHANGHAI THROUGH THE
CENTRAL KINGDOM TO BURMA

BY

WILLIAM EDGAR GEIL

•r fA« Sttrj •/« Msrtl* FmI.**

WITH ONE HUNDRED FULL-FAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK , ;:.•■■- /. ;. .'
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SC)N

3*5 Wnr itdi Stuit, lOAa stb Amnt
1904

Digitized by VjOOQ IC

";^jc l:p:\a::'.
305490

R 19"-

CorruGRTy 1904
By a. C. Akmstsono and Son

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CONTENTS.

iNTSODUcnoN xiii.

CHAPTER I.
To THE Yellow fbom the Blue— Shanghai— Women
IN China — Superstitions — Opium — Chinese

LEARNING ----'.--- I

CHAPTER IL
The Midnight Start— Traveixing in Native Style-
Chinese Food— Nanking— The Examination Hall
— Curious Features of the Examination— Mis-
sionary Work in China 12

CHAPTER in.
Nanking to Hankow— * Glory Face'— Stale Witti-
asMs Regarding Missionaries— Are Missions a
Success?— American Guest Rooms— A Visit to
the Viceroy, Tuan Fang 34

CHAPTER IV.
The King River— From Hankow to Ichang— Riots and
Rebeluons in China— Christmas Night— Old
Moon and the Yankee Flag - - - - S3

CHAPTER V.
Through the Great Yangtze Gorges— Ichang to the
Wild Rapids— In a Chinese Gunboat^The Red
Heifer— River Disasters— The Sacred Edict-
Saluting THE American Flag - - - - 69

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vi. CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI.

The Wealth akd Industries of Szechuen— Wan—
A Viceroy's Opinion of Opium— Boxer Troubles
— ^A Marriage Breakfast — Floods and Fires
— Chinese Credulity — Chinese Culture and
Christianity 85

CHAPTER VII.

Chinese Capable of Hurrying— An Exciting Walk-
Chungking — ^The Ubiquitous Bamboo— A Native
cbntract for cboues— missions in chungking —
On the Road to Luchow 102

CHAPTER VIII.

Missionary Needs— The Wearing of Native Dress —
Luchow— Visit to a Mandarin— Chinese Pris-
oners—A Protecting Ticket— Salt Wells - - 119

CHAPTER IX.

Drought and Native Superstitions— Chinese Irrigation
AND Engineering Feats— The Mandarin's Satur-
nalia—Missionary Progress— A Chinese Gentle-
man AT Home 135

CHAPTER X.

A Royal Welcome— Rock Caves — The Virtues of
*By Proxy' — A Street Melee — Aboriginal
Chieftains — Old Hero Benevolence — Lacquer
Trees - - 147

CHAPTER XL

A Mandarin's View of Copper Mining - Barbarities
to Children— The Gods of Chowtung — Chinese
Singing — Gambling — Death to the Unfilial—
Shrine of the Magic Pen— The Temple of Hell

— iNFANTiaDE 167

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CONTENTS vii.

CHAPTER XIL

Fighting a Famine— The Mohammedan Rebeixion-^
Wild Beasts in China — Attacks of Wolves-
White Wax Insects— Honouring a Widow - i8i

CHAPTER Xin.

ToNGCHUAN — Street Scenes — Itinerant Musicians —
BuNDNESs Resulting from Grief— Paper For-
tunes FOR the Deai>— Ten Thousand Feet above
the Sea— Lepers Cremated Alive - - - i93

CHAPTER XIV.

How to Travels-Written Agreements— Chinese Coolies
—Archery Tests— The Rule of Viceroy Ts'en—
Blood and Iron 202

CHAPTER XV.

Chinese Interpreters— A Street of Shops— A Myth
WITH A Meaning — ^An Interview with a Viceroy
— OFFiaAL Apathy in China— The Greatest
Needs of China — The Yamen in Time of
Rebeluon - - 214

CHAPTER XVI.

Telkraphs in Yunnan — Chinese Demonstration
OF Grief — The Switzerland of China — A
Gruesome Warning to Evil Doers — Horrible
Fate of Parricides — Old Pan's Inn — The
Mysterious Boho Revealed — A Well op
Wonder 224

CHAPTER XVII.

Taufu— Story of the Demon No Kai— A Mohammedan
Rising — A Chinese Sanatorium — A Chinese
Shoemaker at Work 234

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viii. CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Effects of Opium— The Goddess of Mercy Hall
— An Impregnable Fortification— An Odoriferous
Inn— Moslem Coffins— A Kindly Mullah— A
Plague of Incense 243

CHAPTER XIX.

A Weird Procession— A Wedding Repast— An Ancient
Festivai^— The Valley of the Shadow— The Mon-
ster OF THE SaLWEEN RiVER— CoOLIE SUPERSTITIONS

—An Ungrateful Patient 254

CHAPTER XX.

Chinese Faith in Foreign MEoiaNE — Tengyueh
Plain — A Legend of Tatung — The Origin of
Peat — Chinese Bills — Want of Missions in
Tengyueh — Blue Friend Three — A Pearl of
Price - - - 265

CHAPTER XXI.

Shan Villages — Nantien — Shans and Burmese —
A Theatrical Performance— Shaving in Public
— Murder of Mr. Margary — A Centre of
Gambling — Burying a Spirit — Leaves from a
Diary 277

CHAPTER XXII.

Myothit— A Reckless Cook— Bhamo, the City of Pots-
Missions IN Bhamo— Burmese Nats— The Shans
—Bound for Mandalay 291

CHAPTER XXIII.

The End of the Journey— Beheading a God— Rangoon
—A Cat Hunt— The Mistakes of Missionaries—
The Devotion of Missionaries and the Claims of
THEIR Cause 301

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

Mostly from photographs by the Author; a few by G. F.
Stooks, W. C. Taylor and A. H. Faers.

Fadng
pcge

Memorial Arch at Ta Shui Ting - - Frontispiece

Street Scene in Shanghai 4

The Author's Chinese Visiting Card 5

A Rich Man's Grave near the Yangtze - - - - 10

Idols near Shanghai 10

The Great Shanghai Pagoda - - - - - -ii-

Irrigating Rice Fields in the Province of Kiangsu - - 16

A Begging Buddhist Monk 16

Native-built Bridge near Shanghai 17

Shanghai Railway Station 22

Missionary Ready for Journey 23

Net Fishing on the Yangtze 23

Ancient Gate at Nanking 28

The Great Nanking Examination Hall 29

Y. M. C. A., Nanking University 34

Tuan Fang 3S

The Sacred Tree of Ichang 40

Hideous Stone God near Ichang 41

Nun of the Pyramid, Ichang 41

Lady Missionaries' Training Institute ----- 46

Missionaries on the Kiang Wo 47

The Scottish Missionaries of Ichang 47

Ploughing Rice Field with a Water Buffalo - - - 52

Ploughing with Giinese Coolies near Ichang - - - 52

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X. ILLUSTRATIONS

Fftdng
IMge

Native Graveyard in Ichang 53

Chief Yamen of Ichang 53

Roman Catholic Mission, Ichang 58

Temple of Confucius - - - -- - - -58

Mandarin Chang Chuin Teng of Szechuen - - - - 59

Towing the Author's Gunboat, Upper Yangtze - - - 64

The Author's Two Boats 64

Inner Door of Hunan's Richest Temple - - - - 65

Red Life Boat on the Upper Yangtze 65

The Great Ox Liver Gorge 70

Lower Entrance to the Wu Shan Gorge - - - - 71

Cargo Boat Ascending the le-t'an Rapids - - - - 71

Taoist Temple at Tungling Rapids 76

White Bones Pagoda, Shin Tan Rapids - - - - 76

Buddhist Nuns ^^

Mr. Shu, Minor Official near Wan 82

The Evangelist of Wan 83

Taylor's Shadow 83

Early Rice 88

Ho Girls on the Upper Yangtze 88

Three Noted Missionaries 89

The Bridge of Wan 94

The Church of Wan 94

The Author's " Old Tub " moored at Chungking - - 95

Ancestral Shrine near Pi Shih 100

Memorial Arch on the Great Road to Chentu - - - loi
On the Great Stone Road between Chungking and

Luchow - - 106

Memorial Arch, Village of the Marvellous Raven - 107

By the Gate of the Luchow Yamen 112

Memorial Arch to a Virtuous Widow 112

Five Heads at a Yamen Gate 113

Comfortable Homestead near Luchow 118

Beautiful Szechuen Landscape 118

A Pretty Nook outside North Gate, Suifu - - - - 119

Group of Local Deities, Suifu 124

A Bridge Built by Public Subscription - - - - 125

Life Boat Station - - 130

Congratulatory Tablet 131

Outside the Ho-Kiang Gate, Suifu 136

His Excellency Ho and Family i37

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ILLUSTRATIONS xi.

Fadng
page

Coflbis, Spirit Shrines and Ingots - - - - - 142

Author's Caravan en route to Laowa Tan - - - - I43

Two Bridges on the Chowtung Road 148

Caves of the Barbarians 149

Caves in the Red Rock Region, Rat Mountain - - - 154

Temples near Laowa Tan 155

Magnificent Gorge on the Laowa Tan River - - - 160

Graves at Shin Gai North, and Old Hero Benevolence - 161

Two Chinese Women - 166

Chowtung Roofs --167

The Author in his Great Goat Skin Coat - - - - 172

Temple of the Black God - - 173

Theatrical Stage, Temple of the Black God, Chowtung - 178

Shrine of the Magic Pen 179

Tower to the God of Literature, Chowtung - - - 184

Two Road Scenes near Yanglin 185

Travelling Tinkers on the Tong Chuan Road - - - 190

The Two Great Pagodas of Yunnan Fu - - - - 196

Central Hall of the Hell Temple, Yunnan Fu - - - 197

Two Stone Arch Bridges in Far Western China - - - 202

A Wayside Tea House - 203

A Youthful Coolie Carrying Firewood - - . . 208

A Mountain Stream, Far Western China .... 208

Old Loh and Temple of the City God, Chu Siung Fu - - 209

Wayside Shrine 214

Dog Lee and Spring Lee 214

Great Square Pagoda, Chu Siung Fu, Yunnan Province - 215

The God Hung 220

The Great Warrior Idol Hah 221

Mission House, Talifu 226

The Top of the City Wall 227

Great North Gate, Talifu 232

Three Pagodas and Snow Mountains at Tali - 233

Rest House at Taiping Pu 238

Inside View of the Mekong Suspension Bridge . - . 239

Suspension Bridge at the Great Gorge, Mekong River - - 244

Double Suspension Bridge across the Sal ween - - - 245

Chinese Imperial Customs, Tengyuch 250

Tengyueh Theatre 251

Artistic Triumphs, Far Western China - - - - 256

Temple of the God of Riches, Tengyueh - - - - 257

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xii. ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing
page

The Long River 262

West Gate of Nantien, Capital of the Shans - - - 263

Shan Sawbwas' Yamen 268

Building of a New Bridge at Nantien 269

The Stockade at Shihti 274

Grave of a Kachin Warrior 275

Long Kachin House 280

Bamboo Village of the Wild Kachins 281

Bamboo Hut by the Hongmuho 286

Hongmuho and the British Outpost 287

Government Rest-House, Myothit, Burma - - - - 292

Dak Bungalow, Nampoung 293

A Mission in Bhamo 298

The Four Hundred-odd Pagodas at Mandalay - - - 299

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INTRODUCTION.

" Westward, the course of Empire holds its way."
But westward from where? Shall it be a land move-
ment, or a sea movement? Shall the all-pervading
white man surge across the Pacific Ocean out of the
Golden Gate, and imbue with his ideals Japan of the
Golden Chrysanthemum and the Flowery Kingdom
of China? Or shall the philosophers of China rise in
slow wrath against the foreign devils who have yapped
at their heels, and sweep them resistlessly with their
mushroom civilization away back out of Asia and out
of Europe into the Atlantic, or into the useless parts
of the earth?

Not long ago we were warned that the Yellow Man
with the white money was likely, by his industrial
methods, to squeeze out the white man with the yellow
money. British Columbia, California, and Australia
fear this, and would fain keep him out; but they do
not always keep out his goods. And apart from
commercial rivalry, military observers have wondered
whether the Asiatic hordes may not once again realize
their latent strength, and whether aroused China,
inspired by the example of Japan, might not submerge

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xiv. INTRODUCTION

the Western nations. Not once or twice only has
the East menaced the very existence of Europe. The
names of Zinghiz Khan and Tamerlane may be hardly
remembered to-day, but once they were spoken of with
bated breath, and their track was marked by ruined
cities and pyramids of human heads. And even now
barbarians who have planted on the Bosphorus these
methods of Turkestan trample on and massacre
thousands of miserable Europeans.

Men have sometimes wondered whether, before the
Easterners move, they can be conciliated or indoc-
trinated with Western ideals. The experiment has
failed twice. More than looo years ago the Persian
Christians sent overland a few ardent propagandists.
They won the Emperor's favour, translated and printed
the Scriptures in Chinese, trained their native converts
to carry on their work. But they could not let it be
purely Chinese, and maintained some sort of subjection
to a dignitary on the Euphrates. And when there
came a great Mongol invasion that crushed China to
the ground, the exotic perished ; when Chinese elasticity
asserted itself again, this rose not. The tablet of
Si Ngan remains as a monument of this movement
that failed.

The Roman Christians tried next, Franciscans and
Jesuits both innoculating the East. They were only too
complaisant to native ideas, the Jesuits, at least, wire-
drawing their doctrines to an unprecedented tenuity.
Yet they too failed, and their work was cut short.

Protestants have now renewed the attempt It

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INTRODUCTION xv.

seemed indeed as if the Boxers would for a third time
repel the foreign influence. But this time the move-
ment seems to have more vitality; it bowed before
the storm, and arose with new vigour when the flash
had spent itself. Men like Woodbridge have won the
confidence of officials ; natives are themselves spreading
Christianity. The third failure is not yet. Why
should there be a third failure? Jesus of Nazareth
was an Asiatic, and Asiatics ought to understand Him
better than we do. If they will, then will East and
West understand one another better, and no yellow
peril need be feared.
But the hope for

Peace upon earth,

Goodwill among men
is likely to be idle unless the nations accept Him who
was bom at Bethlehem, as their Saviour, their Ideal,
their Lord.

WILLIAM EDGAR GEIL.

DOYLESTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

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There is no difficulty in the world that cannot be overcome by
the man who hustles.— Cwfr^^ Proverb,

CHAPTER I.

TO THE YELLOW FROM THE BLUE — SHANGHAI —

WOMEN IN CHINA — SUPERSTITIONS— OPIUM —

CHINESE LEARNING.

Carrier.

' HE Yangtze River colours the Pacific

i~ Ocean for a distance of thirty miles

from the China coast. The amount
of earth carried down this mighty
stream and deposited on the sloping
sea-floor is incalculable. As a land-
maker this Chinese Mississippi can-
not be excelled. It has brought
down a considerable portion of the
Province of Kiangsu from the west,
and gradually dropped it piecemeal
as mud. Large tracts of land on which many natives
now contentedly live and cultivate their fields of rice,
cotton and wheat, were known to their forefathers
as " The Sea." To-day the river is still engaged in
the manufacture of territory, robbing the West
to enrich the East, and roiling the brine of the
oft-times unpacific deep. The traveller to China dis-
covers the saffron and chocolate long before he sights
the low-lying coast. Sometimes it is a plunge in

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2 TO THE YELLOW FROM THE BLUE

medias res when the sea is calm and the blue and yellow
refuse to mix ; then the ship glides over a distinct line
from sea blue to river yellow. The draught of the big
Pacific liners is too heavy to admit of their ascending
the little tidal river Hwangpu, on which the " Model
Settlement of Shanghai " is situated, so our ship drops
anchor some miles off the Chinese viljage of Woosung,
twelve miles from the Settlement, where the mouth of
the Hwangpu kisses the Yangtze sea-shore. The pas-
senger is transferred from the ship to a tug, which
carries him and his baggage up the river, over the
" Heaven-sent Barrier " near the mouth. This barrier
menaces navigation. The tides are high and the waters
of the Hwangpu run like a mill-race; many ufiwary
junks and steamers which have incautiously ventured
too much, have been wrecked on the Barrier, which sea
captains have sworn was not heaven-sent.

Shanghai is the great metropolis of the East, and
everybody who visits the Far Orient, at some time or
other, turns up at this dty, where not two, but a dozen,
seas meet: Americans, English, Germans, French,
Russians, Portuguese, Dutch, Italians, Japanese,
Koreans, and all the rest. Says Henry Norman:
" Among the many surprises of a journey to the Far
East one of the greatest is certainly the first sight of
Shanghai. ... I could hardly believe my eyes.
There lay a magnificent city surrounding a broad and
crowded river, though the magnificence is only skin-
deep, all the architectural beauty and solidity of
Shanghai being along the river ; but I am speaking of
the first impressions of Shanghai, and in this respect it
is superior to New York, far ahead of San Francisco,
and almost as imposing as Liverpool itself. A broad
and beautifully kept boulevard, called, of course, the
Bund, nms aroimd the river, with rows of well-grown

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SHANGHAI 3

trees and broad grassplat at the water's edge; and this
Bund is lined on the other side from one end to the
other with mercantile buildings second to none of

their kind in the world At the upper end

of the Bund a large patch of green shows the Public
Gardens, where the band plays on summer evenings.
All night all Shanghai is bright with electric light, and
its telegraph poles remind you of Chicago. ....
And the needed touch of colour is added to the scene
as you look at it from on deck, by the gay flags of the
steamers and the Consular bunting floating over the
town."

But Shanghai has made rapid advances since Norman
wrote. The American, English and French Settle-
ments have been extended far beyond their original
limits ; and imposing buildings and terraces have been
carried back for miles from the Bund. Large factories
are in full operation making silk fabrics, thread,
matches, and, we are sorry to say, beer. It is inter-
esting to see the varied humanity which emerges from
these mills and the business houses of this cosmopolitan
port when the two hands on the big Customs Clock
press the button on the XII spot Carriages, dogcarts,
traps, motors, bicycles, rickshas, wheelbarrows, and
even sedan chairs come pouring down the Bund and
up the ** Roads," or streets with geographical names —
Nanking Road, Pekin Road — off across the creek
called Yangkingpang, into the French Settlement,
dubbed by the Chinese " France," or, in the other di-
rection, across the Garden Bridge by the Astor House,
up Broadway or Seward Road and through the Ameri-
can Settlement, whose native name is Honkew, or
" Rainbow Mouth." The river is crowded with craft-
junks, lorches, sampans, big P. and O. boats and
"French Mail," foreign-rigged schooners, tugs and

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4 A FALSE GENERALISATION

men-of-war. What a medley ! The sight is enough to
make the Chinese countryman " turn up his pigtail,"
which is their equivalent for our "kicking the bucket" ;
or to astonish even a nil admirari Englishman. In-
stead of " civilising " the native, it only seems to con-
firm his opinion that these barbarians who hitch up the
lightning and build houses so high are indeed veritable
devils. You might as well try to sink one of the Amer-
ican gunboats in the Hwangpu with a pop-gun as
to attempt to eliminate superstition or idolatry with
what we call " Western learning " or " Civiliza-
tion."

Many superficial globe-trotters have based general-
isations on Shanghai. This is a gross blunder, for the
port, while in China, is not China. The people of this
Empire are judiciously slow to accept a new and up-
start civilization for their own, which has, until these
high-nosed Europeans came, withstood the tests of
chiliads; but, with twentieth-century conditions, some
innovations have been inevitable, and the adoption
of these in China to-day represents tragedy and
comedy ludicrously mixed. Shanghai is a hard field
for missionary work, but, like every other enterprise,
that activity centres here. The Presbyterian Press,
which turned out over eighty million pages of lit-
erature this year, and employs two hundred and fifty
Chinese, is perhaps the largest printing establishment
in Asia. Other missions support similar works; and
the colleges and schools attached to the respective
churches are largely patronized by influential and
wealthy natives who now see the immense advan-
tage derived from these institutions. By far the
greatest number of men now in Government employ
demanding some knowledge of English have come
from mission schools. The Society for the Diffusion

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rilK AUTHORS CIIINKSK VISITIXC. CARD. Uis rFiKSTiAi. Name is Gkii.oii.

On thk Kkvkrsk siuf. of the Card are Ciiinesk Characters saying —

"The (Ireat American Traveling Man with a Passport."

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EIGHTY MILLIONS OF MEN 5

of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chi-
nese, with an excellent staff of English translators, is
a powerful agency for enlightenment among these peo-
ple. But best of all are the churches themselves, scat-
tered over the largeareaof Shanghai Settlement, which,
like the electric lights, illuminate the dense darkness.
All honour to the Southern Methodist Church for the
splendid college in Honkew and to the Episcopal
Church for St. John's College! I was gladdened by
my visit to Shanghai, but Shanghai is only an infin-
itesimal part of this great Empire. Look Westward
along the great journey I am about to make — ^look at
the men : eighty millions of them !

Let this stupendous statement sink well into your
mind. Sophocles said, " Many things are wonderful,
but none so wonderful as man;" or, as the Chinese /
proverb declares, "Ren Shi Wan Wu Chih Ling,'>^
"Man is the Mind of Creation." And what record
has this mighty nation that we treat so contemptu-
ously? The Chinese invented the art of printing one
thousand years before the birth of Caxton. They
possessed libraries before we had learned the art of
expressing ourselves by charcoal hierogl3rphics on
birch-bark. They made it possible for our progenitors
to give up the use of hollow stone plates and gourd
dishes by placing chinaware on the market. Silks!
did your eyes ever feast on more beautiful fabrics than
those now seen in a Chinese silk store? But you ask,
Are the Chinese such men as we are? It is a simple
question to answer because in some respects they are
our betters. In courtesy they are Chesterfields, we
are troglodytes; as artisans their endurance and
patience are as remarkable .as their inability to invent
new machinery. As farmers they raise three fairly
good crops a year, but they do it with the aid only of a

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6 WOMEN IN CHINA

wcxxlen-Kanded plough and by hand-planting and
hand-reaping. A reaper, a threshing-machine, or a
cotton gin would scare them off the field. As scholars
they are giants in memory, repeating whole volumes
without trouble, but when we come to applied know-
ledge or to practical science, they are mere babes.
Engineering, for example, would strike them not as a
profession but as " labour," and no gentleman in China
can " labour." And yet look at the Imperial Canal,
one hundred and twenty geographical leagues in
length, and without a parallel in the world's history!
And the Great Wall whose cubic content, Hegel com-
putes, exceeds the mass of stone used in all the build-
ings in England and Scotland!

Yes, eighty millions of men, not to enumerate the
fair sex, who rule as many of them as they do of us.
Much may be said about the oppression of women, and
the brutal tyranny by which they are ruled; of
the license with which they may be sold into slavery
and misery; of the persecution of young wives by
mothers-in-law, which is still universal. But every-
thing that has been written on this subject can scarcely
make plain to the Occidental mind the actual facts of
the case. The small turreted structures, which stand
on the outskirts of many a city, testify to the disfavour
with which girl babies are received at birth, and the
barbarity which sanctions those chamel houses. And
yet it should be noted that when women gain the
mastery they generally keep it and exercise their
authority with an iron rule. The present Empress
Dowager is an example. For forty years she has
dominated the Imperial Qan, not only the Manchu
but the Chinese, throughout the whole extent of the
Empire. She is the one great force at the present time,
and one of the most masterful women on the face of

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A WORLD OF UNREALITIES 7

the earth. Much of her energy, we believe, has been
misdirected by the unwise counsel of ignorant men;
nevertheless, she seems to be profiting by her bitter
experience. What is true of the Imperial Clan is true
of many other clans throughout the Empire. The
Empress Dowager has won her present position. She
did not inherit it. And she maintains it by her own
invincible strength. She alone is the absolute ruler
of one-fourth of the human race. Men in China do not
despise women who are stronger than themselves.
In India widows burn themselves, if allowed, but in
China men erect arches to women who do not marry
twice.

We shall not fully understand these multitudes of
men unless we take into account their fictitious
environment. It has been said that the Chinese are
unimaginative, materialistic, and matter-of-fact, that
they live in a narrow, circtunscribed sphere. But the
fact is the Chinese live in a world of unrealities. They
worship demons whom they have never seen. In-
ntmierable religious institutions for the sole purpose of
locating devils are established all over- China. The
religious devotee spends time and money in attempts to
rid himself of the influence of the demon world. He
is haunted by spirits who follow him into his office, in
his carriage or in his palanquin, into the privacy of
his home, and even behind the curtains of his un-
feathered bed. There are good spirits alfeo, besides the
spirits of his ancestors whom he worships more often
and perhaps more sincerely than High Heaven. You
cannot call a Chinese a spiritual man nor a demonized
man, but he lives in constant dread of the spirits of the
upper and nether world. The country which possesses
the largest coal deposits in the world has never mined
coal for fear of disturbing the Great Dragon who is

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8 A BONDAGE OF DEMONS

supposed to govern the air and the earth. " Shall we
drive shafts into his back," they ask, "when it is
sure to arouse him from his slumber, and the serrated
hills aroimd us will be immediately transformed in-
to fierce dragon beasts? No! rather let the coal lie
buried for ever. We will bum reeds and grass and not
run the risk of bringing dire calamity upon us." Here
also lie vast silver and gold deposits, and they lie as
the Lord first placed them; no man dares disturb
them. Thus the Chinese literally carry out the warn-
ing of Ovid, " Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum."

The reverent Chinese hears the clap of thunder, bows
his head in awe, and worships it as god. We show him
that we have less fear but as much reverence for the
lightning when we enchain it to our wheels or com-
mand it to carry our messages under sea or over land.
We prove to him that his country may become the
richest country in the world if he will but unearth its
riches, and we show him that his demon and spirit
environment is a but a fabrication of the mind, the her-
itage of a past superstition. Eighty millions of men,
and only one hundred thousand of them are freed by
the Gospel from the bondage of demons ! What about
the rest?

You may say, " Oh, but they are a peculiar lot."
I don't see it. You are quite mistaken in your con-
clusion in regard to the matter of looks. Not one in
ten has oblique eyes. They walk and laugh and love
and learn much as we do. As to the colour — ^well,
remember that beauty is relative. Is the ashen, con-
sumptive look of the European as beautiful as a good
healthy yellow? You ask where they live They
live in the country; they are congregated in the
cities; they dwell upon the moimtains and on the
plains. They are living, and dying too, in accessible

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CHARACTER OF THE CHINESE 9

places I There are fanatics among them, but there are
fanatics everywhere, and it is not a bad sign. They
have the qualities which, if rightly used, will make
them eminently Christian. Here is thought for
Christian people. Think of their cities, distributing
centres for millions, without a ray of the Gospel, thou-
sands of great towns without churches or schools for
girls, and an Empire without colleges for women!
And no native novel has yet been written setting forth
the teaching of Jesus. The Chinese are men of strong
passions. They are not flaccid individuals. They are
not of the jelly-fish tjrpe. The desire for money is as
strong in them as in any other people, not even excep-
ting the Jews. This passion for money makes them
industrious, and industry is the heart and mainspring
of success. There is not a rat without a tail. While
they " squeeze," extort, and gamble on a small scale,
they do not seem to have caught the fever for gam-
bling in stocks and cotton futures. The coolie who
has received his wages in copper cash resorts to the-
tea shop to try to double it at dice, dominoes or wheels,
but he probably loses all.

Apart from the awful predisposition for opium, the
Celestial has no craze for ardent spirits. He drinks a
very light wine made of rice, but he takes his liquor
temperately. Outside the ports opened by the white
man there is little whiskey. There is little public
drunkenness in China, But opiimi is everywhere. It
thrusts itself on the nostrils throughout the length and
breadth of the country. Vast sections of the land are
devoted to growing the poppy, which exhausts the
strength of the soil more rapidly than rice or wheat.
On the steamers, on the house-boats, on the canals, in
the great business houses, everjrwhere men can lie
down and smoke it. It is not eaten; it is not smoked

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lo A NATION OF SCHOLARS

on the streets. It is a national mania, everywhere
acknowledged to be bad, but consumed by millions of
enslaved devotees. It is next to impossible for men
to free themselves from this habit when once it becomes
fixed, for the native is essentially a man of pleasure.
He may look solemn, but he is not. Every town and
city has its numerous tea-houses where tea is brewed
in the cup. In these places men congregate after office
hours to discuss business, to hear music, or to pass from
lip to lip the latest gossip of the day.

The Chinaman has his guilds. Labour and capital
are as completely organized in the Celestial Empire as
in any other. They have the bankers' guild, which '
controls the money market There are also provincial
guilds, which are composed of men from the same
province. These guilds are found in every city in the
Empire, and are so powerful that the officials dare not
oppose them. That the Chinese are men of strong
passions is shown by their love of literature. This
is a nation of scholars, and the founders of litera-
ture are worshipped as gods. The final authorities on
all questions are the national classics. The writing
of poems and essays, both poetry and prose, is the
quintessence of art. The theatre has its place next to
literature, and serves to hand down the manners,
customs, and history of antiquity by histrionic repre-
sentations. It is on the whole a respectable place. Go
into a theatre seating two thousand people. Many
are sipping tea from little cups placed on tables before
them! All have their hats on except the women.
Hear the continuous sounds of laughter, but no ap-
plause, as hour after hour the spectators hang on the
words of the actors illustrating the story of how China
defeated the hosts of enemies arrayed against her in
the early days. Here you have ample proof of tTie

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A RICH MAN'S GRAVE SITUATED NEAR THE YANGTZE.

IDOLS NEAR SHANGHAI.

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PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT ii

vivacity of the Chinaman. The two chief events in
the average village in China are the great feast or
parade of the gods and the theatre festival. The
acting is almost entirely done by men. The better
qualities of the Chinese are also shown by their efforts
to do good. There were great charities and benevo-
lent institutions in China before Columbus discovered
America! Their bodes, written a thousand years be-
fore Christ, advocate philanthropy. Still they have
never learned how to practise true benevolence. But
our point is to show they have a passion for doing good ;
albeit this is perhaps not because of the good it does
to the other man, but because of the merit which is
laid up thereby for the doer. The Chinaman is a fam-
ily man, which speaks well for him. It is scarcely
decent for a man to live out a bachelor's life. The
family is the unit of society, and not the individual.
The government is patriarchal. The head of the
family rules the various members, and each Chinaman
is an emperor in his own domestic circle, unless his
wife happens to be the stronger of the two. Eighty
millions of hale, energetic, strong-minded men who are
walking with their backs to the future, pushing on to
the past!

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^ m m m m i^ ^

Towers and porticoes shimmering in the midst-^^rtn^ in
Nanking,

Of all things under Heaven only Reason can subdue men.

CHAPTER II.

THE MIDNIGHT START — ^TRAVELLING IN NATIVE
STYLE^— CHINESE FOOD — NANKING — ^THE EXAMI-
NATION HALL — CURIOUS FEATURES OF THE
EXAMINATION — MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA.

Y long hegira across China began
at midnight. Know, all men by
these presents, that in " the witch-
ing hour of night when grave-
yards (and people) yawn," car-
rying my P. T., I left Foochow
Road wharf in " Top-Sea "* and
Pent and Ink. ^^^^ ^Q j^ ^ wobWy tender to the

" Great Prosperity," lying in mid-channel with her
anchor down in eight fathoms of water. My friends
who came to see me off went on board with me. This
vessel was selected, not because of her name, but be-
cause her owners permit foreigners to travel native
style. Some steamers running up the Yangtze have a

'^Shanghai in the Chinese language signifies "Top-Sea."

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TRAVELLING IN NATIVE STYLE 13

rule against admitting any but Chinese to the native
accommodations. It was to see China and the Chinese
that I was taking the journey and living on native
fare, so I managed to secure a cabin on board, designed
especially for the Chinese. Shanghai is beautiful at
night, with the many coloured lights on the shore and
the regulation lamps of the shipping at anchor and in
motion. The moist December air was cold and chilly,
and we hastily boarded the triple deck river steamer
which reminded me of the craft which ply on the great
American Mississippi. On the main deck, full for-
ward, the Chinese saloon cabins are located, and to
these we briskly found our way through a wide corri-
dor with state-rooms grouped on either side. I stopped
to read a helpful sign, done in freehand on pasteboard,
and hung against the wooden wall on the starboard
side:

Please Ready

5 Native Cabin

For Fellows Missinaris.

This settled my character. It was plain enough that
I was being classed by the comprador as a missionary.
On board were many Chinese, most of them going
deck class. Among the many passengers were several
Christian missionaries, all travelling native style to
save the money of their society. Economy in this
way aggregates a large sum. Take, for instance, the
fare from Shanghai to Hankow. For first-class for-
eign passengers this is forty dollars, Mexican, while
the first-class native fare is only ten dollars and forty
cents. The value of the Mexican dollar varies ; at the
time of my sojourn in Shanghai it was worth about
forty cents United States money.
The missionary party was composed of several

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14 THE YANGTZE

ladies and University men. The latter wore tasselled
pigtails, and their wives and children were among the
party.

The quartermaster had struck eight bells, midnight,
before I turned into my short bunk, which contained
no bedding except my own, purchased in Shanghai for
the long journey to Burma. When the weird call of
the lead heaver awoke me, I found that we had swung
out of the fierce Hwangpu into The River, as the
natives term the Great Yangtze. A wonderful river
this, that flows midway between the Great Wall and
the Chu Kiang. It quietly rises in the perpetual
snows of the Thibetan heights, dashes in all its ancient
glory through the Gorges of Ichang, and sweeps
majestically onward as if conscious of its commercial
importance to the world. It is the sustaining artery
of eight provinces, and pours the water of half a con-
tinent through ever-broadening channels into the Yel-
low Sea, Coming events, and the Yangtze, cast their
shadows before them, for Skipper Everett corroborates
the statement that the sea is coloured fifty miles out
by the vast volume of yellow brought by the mighty
river down out of the heart of the massive Empire
of Kwang Su. The Yangtze undoubtedly ranks first
among the rivers of the Did World, and is excelled
only by the Mississippi and the Amazon in the New.

In the Admiralty Directory, referring to sailings on
the Yangtze, I find these comforting and quieting
statements in heavy type: — ^"Caution; Changes in the
river. Caution ; Rise and fall of the river. Caution ;
Tidal streams off the mouth of the Yangtze. Caution ;
Calse Channel. Caution; Prevailing diseases. Cau-
tion; Kiang Lung Wreck Light. Caution; Velocity
of the current Caution; Havoc Rocks. Caution;
Boulder Shoal. Caution; Ichang Gorge. Caution;

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EARLY RICE 15

First Rapids. Caution ; a lifeboat is stationed at each
dangerous place all the way down from Chungking to
Ichang." While admitting that dangers are most por-
tentous on a distant sight, yet it was for these and other
reasons that I sent my baggage to Rangoon by steam-
er and kept along with me only my photographic in-
struments, personal effects, a bamboo box containing
books, bedding, sweaters, and P. T. I found after-
wards to my inconvenience that I had sent too many
of my effects to Rangoon and suffered in consequence.
But more of this anon.

" Early Rice " was served up wet at eight-forty-five
A.M. in the partitioned-off corridor into which our
cabins opened. The room was not encumbered with
artistic cachet, but was full of penumbra. Indeed,
the room was chiefly furnished with good penumbra.
By the lavish use of it the steamship company must
have had an unlimited supply of penumbra. There
were penumbra everywhere. In the corners, along the
sides, and even in the middle of the floor there were
penumbra. And it was of good quality, not the pale,
thin article one sometimes finds among dark-skinned
native races. This penumbra would have delighted the
heart of a white ant. On the round table lay a white
cloth. Around the edge were the rice bowls and red
chop-sticks, and in the middle four chinaware vessels
of appetizers. These dishes bore frightful dragon
and other terrifying decorations, and contained first,
superannuated and odoriferous shrimps ; second, sickly
bean curd floating gently on a summer sea of native
vinegar and mustard seed oil; the third dish boasted
pickled turnip tops and other refuse; and the fourth,
bean curd cheese which reminded me of wild-cat's
liver soaked in sulphurated hydrogen. It was a
repast to make one remember that " Plures crapula

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i6 TWO FRIENDLY MANDARINS

quam gladius." Before we " pitched into " this Early
Rice, the " Gospel Scatterers " sang a " Grace," the
heavy bass and the fine tenor of the men blending
harmoniously with the cultured voices of the young
ladies. It was a strange interlude in the midst of the
heathen surroundings. They sang two verses : —

**How good is the Lord we adore.
Our faithful, unchangeable friend.
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.

Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home,

We praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that shall come."

Then I looked at them closely and wondered which
of them would be the first to be massacred, for they
were en route to sections of the country from which
came rumours of disquiet and rebellion. But for the
friendship of the two Yangtze Viceroys, they must
have left their bodies unburied on the soil of Western
China during the Boxers' orgy of blood. These tran-
quil mandarins should receive some recognition and
expression of appreciation from the governments to
which these favoured citizens belong.

When we had finished the Early Rice, which tried
to finish us, the river was fully ten miles wide. Rising
among the Pillars of Heaven, far off on the edges of
that mystical and awe-inspiring country of Thibet,
the civilising Yangtze winds around three thousand
miles through this land of the blue gown, then falls
into the sea by the little village of Wusimg. My
school-friend, William Steckel, used to say to me that
running water was the most beautiful thing in nature,
but running water meant to him some fair brook
meandering over curiously shaped pebbles, through a
lovely meadow near Doylestown, in the state of

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' LAST-BORN ' 17

Pennsylvania, and not this monster, muddy stream.
But the river is interesting ever. When not ten nautical
miles from Shanghai, by watching the Fair Way Buoy,
I noticed that notwithstanding the tremendous mass of
opposing water, the tide was in a prodigious hurry and
ran up at the rate of three jolly knots an hour. The
scenery is alluvial.

* Great Prosperity ' was towing a black hulk larger
than herself. It was roofed over with corrugated iron
and was to be used as a receiving wharf at some river
port. It retarded our speed, but being lashed to the
port side, served as a promenade deck. As I was step-
ping over from ' Great Prosperity ' to * Tanais ' (the
hulk's name) with a nervous member of the famous
Cambridge Band, his pigtail caught in the stanchion
and came off. Lucky for him it was that it had not
grown upon his head; but he had just returned from
England and his new self-nourished pigtail was in esse,
and the one which came off was second-hand and had
been grown by somebody else. The Celestials with
the real article hanging down their backs, leaned over
the gunwale and retailed divers remarks about the
de-tailed foreigner.

Two ships quickly passed us on their way to the
open sea. The first was the * Great-Reaching-Through
Everything,' which was closely followed by * Flowing
Virtue,' with a black funnel.

The native servants were delightful. At high
noon we were served with "Middle Rice," a more
pretentious meal than Early Rice. I was served by
"Last-Bom" and " Always-with-a-Fair-End." My
delight on Great Prosperity was Last-Bom and Always-
with-a-Fair-End. I doted on them and derived a deal of
healthy pleasure from the study of them. Last-Bom
was twenty-two years old, which means that he was

B

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i8 AN ORIGINAL CELESTIAL

really twenty-one, and made his appearance on this
planet in the eleventh moon. He waited on me most
of the time, and I had occasion to wait on him. At
certain seasons he displayed a constitutional and
frigid antipathy to being hustled. He was a nice,
plump Chinese who smiled graciously when, with the
monster chop-sticks and divers motions, I indicated
that he should serve me with tooth-picks. Off he
would go and, soon returning, present me with several
home-made tooth-picks five inches long by the tape
line and carved from the bamboo handle of a local
broom used by various coolies for a lengthy period.
The age and quality of the handle were indicated by
the antique cast on the outer edge of the wood.

My P. T. was carrying safely. Nationally the
Chinaman is the oldest man on this planet, and
my two " boys " seemed to have inherited " old age."
Last-Bom was an original Celestial, full enough
of the element of surprises to be highly enter-
taining. After Middle Rice in he rushed with a hand
wash basin of boiling hot water and placed it on a
square Chinese chair. Then Always-with-a-Fair-End,
to whom mere locality was a matter of indifference,
cheerfully came up and dexterously threw the table-
cloth over his starboard shoulder. Dipping a dish in
the basin, he wiped it with the table-cloth until one
was at a loss to conclude which was the cleanest, the
dish, the cloth, or the Chinaman. Always-with-a-
Fair-End was a slick-looking youth, with sufficient fresh
grease on him to make a toilet-sized cake of scented
soap if mixed with the proper amount of lye-— he
carried plenty of lie. But then he carried a bull's-eye
lantern in his head He always smiled with his face.
I noticed that the Great Yangtze was exactly the
colour of Always-with-a-Fair-End, and suggested that

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A CHINESE SHERLOCK HOLMES 19

some millions of his ancestors had bathed in its flowing
waters, and, each losing a mite of colour, given the
monster stream its peculiar cast. The impregnable
fortress, Kiangyin or " Shadeof-the-River," which we
passed during the day, oxitained great guns which a
fellow-passenger knowingly said, have a clean sweep
of ten miles down the river. If they could have com-
manded the floor of our dining hall we would have been
thankful. It needed a clean sweep.

When we had an opporttmity of looking about our
cabins we found various small things stowed away for
safe keeping, and with a view to escape the very keen
eye of the customs official. The Chinaman will trust
the foreigner. He will also, by what he considers
legitimate means, take a share of everything for him-
self ; but while there is much petty pilfering among
the dwellers on the Hills of Tang, there are also remark-
able means of detecting criminals. Note the follow-
ing: — Outside the walls of a certain small city was a
dealer in oil cakes, who sold his wares at two cents each,
for Early Rice. He would place his tray of cakes on a
stone lion in front of the public building, and, as the
customers paid their money, he would put it by the
side of the tit-bits yet unsold. One morning he had
occasion to leave his tray for a few minutes ; when he
returned, the " cash '* was gone. Unable to discover
it, he rushed excitedly to the local Mandarin, calling
loudly, as the Chinese do, for redress. When brou^t
before His Honour by the underlings of the Yamen,
he stated his case, llie cash was all gone, and there
being no trace of the thief, the judge, who was no
novice, directed also in a loud voice, that the stone
lion on which the tray had rested should be brought
into his presence and bambooed, as on it alone could
the responsibility rest. The proceedings attracted a

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20 THE FOREIGNER'S SLAVE

large crowd of loafers about the Yamen court. When
the punishment had been inflicted, the doors were shut
and a large jar of water placed at the entrance and the
crowd were compelled to retire one at a time, each
throwing a coin into the jar. A smart detective, who
had been detailed for the business, soon discovered
the peculiar oil of the cake vendor rise after one fellow
had thrown in his cash. Grabbing him by the pigtail,
the detective said, blandly, " Have you any more?
Disgorge!"

My P. T.is ingood shapeand standing the voyage well.

My humorous friends, Last-Bom and Always-with-
a-Fair-End, became more attentive as the voyage drew
to an end and the tipping time approached. They
possessed the commercial instinct of their race, and I
expressly state that at this I in no wise scoff. It was
after noon by the ship's clock when we dropped anchor
opposite Nanking, which means "Southern Capital."
The shank was cast none too soon, for Last-Bom and
Always-with-a-Fair-End were suffering, maybe from
uncertainty. It was best for me to go; for as Gautier
says, " Human eyes cannot, without tuming aside,
contemplate the sight of suffering for too long a time.
Goddesses themselves grow weary of it, and the three
thousand Oceanides who went to console Prometheus
on his Caucasian cross retumed therefrom in the
evening." Ere I departed I gave them silver tablets.
These they took, and (what magic!) they were cured
in an instant! We were gradually transferred from
* Great Prosperity ' to a Celestial mudscow and paddled
to the shore, which was muddy, and which we reached
by means of a slippery plank. Here we found car-
riages and the most rickety rickshas I ever saw. My
kind friend Bowen had been waiting for me since ten
o'clock the night before, at the wharf four miles from

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BABY TOWERS 21

his residence. Together we drove into the city. A
strong wall, twenty miles or more in circumference,
encloses the city proper, which leaves vacant a space
sufficient to cultivate and raise food for the inhabitants
and defenders in the event of a siege. A wide maca-
damized roadway leads from the landing-stage through
the city gate and past the vice-r^ral Yamen, a distance
of about ten miles. This road, the evidence of prac-
tical reform, was constructed by the aggressive Viceroy
Chang Chihtung, the author of " China's Only Hope,"
whose progressive policy had earned for him the
sobriquet of " the foreigner's slave."

Strange as it may seem, there is just one Young
Men's Christian Association building in China at the
present time, and that is located in the city' of
Nanking. I stopped to have a look at it — ^a fine new
structure not yet completed, and costing two thousand
five hundred gold dollars, the entire amount having
been donated by " Black Cat " Cooper. It is for the
students of Nanking University; and any business
man, looking the building over as I did, and knowing
its cost, would reach the conclusion that there are
clever business men doing missionary work in China
at the present time. Several hundred students are
in Christian schools in Nanking, besides the great
student body of over fifteen thousand who come up
periodically to the trying Triennial Examinations.
I have found in all the Celestial Empire no more hearty
and serviceable men than Lewis, Lyon and Gailey,
American University graduates engaged in the most
sane and sensible effort of enlightening and saving
the student population of China.

En route to the great Examination Hall I passed
two whitewashed circular Baby Towers, with a small
house somewhat temple-like in appearance. This is

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22 THE EXAMINATION HALL

the first structure of the sort I have met with in China.
By the front door hangs a perpendicular sign announ-
cing that the services of the keeper are absolutely free.
In the front yard stands a baby tray, in which the
bodies of little dead children are placed previous to
being burned and the remains thrown into the turreted
towers. Perhaps not here, but in some parts of the
Empire, living girl-babies are flung into these grue-
some structures, and, I am told, heart-rending cries
have often been heard issuing from these horrible
receptacles.

Among many remarkable sights there is one
marvel in Nanking, in every respect the greatest,
which, although I omit to mention fully the Ming
Tombs, must be referred to — ^the Examination Hall.
Facing the Confucian-Temple-Street is the gate to this
Great Nanking Examination Hall, which is, probably,
more largely attended than any other in the Empire.
There is but one gate, by which all must enter and
leave. In case of death during the examination, the
dead body is passed over the brick wall. The Viceroy's
narrow seal on the closed doors cannot be brc^en save
only in the event of the head examiner dying while
on duty.

The students are very superstitious about having
a dead body taken through the gate by which they
expect to enter their career of honour. While passing
in, I noticed that from the outer gate to the halls the
path was lined off with several rows of red pale fences.
In the centre of the enclosure stands a high tower in
which is a large drum — whence its name, "Drum
Tower." At the comers are four other towers,
where guards keep watch night and day during the
examination.

The view from the Drum Tower gives one a good

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MISSIONARY READY FOR JOURNEY.

NET-FISHING ON THE YANGTZE.

viii

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AGED GRADUATES 23

idea of the general plan of the compound. The tiers
of cells into which the students pass for the real work
of the great examination, are built of brick in single
rows and roofed in with tiles, each stall measuring in
front forty-four inches deep, thirty-seven inches wide,
and five feet eight inches high. In the rear wall of
each is a small niche where the occupant places his
candle. In one row of these diminutive study-rooms
I found ninety-six of these, and in another row more
than <Mie hundred. The passage to the cells is narrow,
and the distance from the front of one row to the back
wall of the next is but forty-six inches. From a win-
dow of the Central Tower I counted a series of rows
containing over six thousand stalls. There must, then,
be accommodation here for at least fifteen thousand
students, and I can readily believe the official who gave
this large number as the estimate. It sometimes
happens that even these are inadequate. In this event
and to meet this demand, temporary booths are erected
in the passage ways. Beyond the Drum Tower there
are three large gates over each of which is an inscrip-
ticwi. The one over the right gate reads, "East
Literary Arena," and the one over the left, "West
Literary Arena." Above the middle gate we read,
" When the hall is closed the air is clear," that is, if
the gates are locked, double dealing is impossible.

Without the assistance of double dealing I got
my P. T.

There are many very remarkable features connected
with these celebrated Examinations or Literary
Competitions. One of the most extraordinary is the
difference in the ages of the students. I was told
of one boy who took his middle, or M.A., degree
at eleven years of age, but he had a very short life.
In the words of his distinguished descendant, " He

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24 TALE OF A GLASS EYE

was too smart, and died at the age of twenty." Old
men of seventy, and even eighty years of age, who have
perchance tried many years and failed, still come up,
hoping to gain the tablet and the flag that their
families may enjoy the exalted honour. The coveted
degree is sometimes conferred on these old men on
account of their age and perseverance.

The Chinese are remarkable organizers, and possess
a genius for combination. Every student knows
where his stall is and its number before he enters the
outer gate. His food, candle, and cooking apparatus
are all previously prescribed and described minutely
in a book issued by the Government. These regula-
tions are being gradually modified. In former years,
every student was required to. bum a red candle, but
at the last examination white candles were allowed.
The sojourn of such a large number of China's best
scholars in the Provincial city does not lessen, but, on
the contrary, rather increases the superstition, bigotry,
and fanaticism of the people. A few years ago an
American physician unintentionally precipitated a
small riot by a pure act of intended benevolence. He
removed a useless eye of a native patient and replaced
it with a glass one. The operation was complete, but,
unluckily, the patient one day removed his glass eye
in the presence of some Chinese and hastily popped it
back into his head again. The crowd was aghast.
They had now received genuine ocular demonstration
that the unfortunate surgeon possessed a magic power.
Here was a proof that the stories circulated about
missionaries making medicine from children's eyes
were true. Word to this effect soon got about and a
mob quickly gathered at the physician's house to do
what other mobs in China have done and will do —
wreck the missionary's premises, etc. This diversion,

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EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT 25

however, was interrupted by the Mandarin, who ex-
plained in a placard afterwards put up, the functions
of the " harmless, necessary " glass eye.

The Examinations are taken very seriously by
the Chinese, and are not without a tragic side.
The thought of China is Confucian, but the temple
just beyond the Examination Hall is the centre
of a gambling and drinking district. The religion
of the studlents doe^ not interfere With their com-
mitting suicide. Some take opium, others hang
themselves — but this method is not popular — ^while
others cut their throats. Failure in passing the
examinations is one melancholy cause of self-
destruction; but mental disorder, occasioned by the
severe strain and constant pressure of the ordeal,
drives many unfortunates to take their lives. The
examinations always occur, too, at a hot and un-
healthful season of the year — the eighth moon — ^when
the htmian system has become enervated by the sum-
mer heat. No wonder, then, that even the inured and
stoical native often succumbs. Dr. Robert Beebe, of
the Philander Smith Hospital in Nanking, told me an
interesting story of a young man who had cut his
throat with a sharp instrument, and of the peculiar
means that were employed to exorcise the evil spirit
that was supposed to instigate the act. The foreign
doctor, who had been summoned, found the patient
lying on a bed in front of which was a square table
containing vegetables and lighted candles. Under-
neath were two live roosters. A geomancer, who had
also been called, proceeded to drive out the devil.
Seizing one of the fowls he cut its throat and sprinkled
the blood over the room. He accompanied this act
with numerous grimaces, hand-foldings, genuflections
and incantations, walking frequently over to the

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26 SUICIDES AT EXAMINATIONS

bedside to see whether his charms were effective. The
rooster business having miserably failed, the geomancer
got his writing materials and rubbed scnne ink on the
slab. Dipping his pencil in the ink, he skilfully wrote
several Chinese characters on the palm of his own
hand. He then put his hand in front of the man's
insipid face and tried to blow them off. The idea was
that he had power to blow the spirit and the influence
of the characters into the man's breath and thus evict
the devil. Dr. Beebe held the severed windpipe
together with his fingers, which enabled the man to
talk coherently, and thus found out the cause of his
rash act. The unfortunate fellow was perfectly sane.
Mr. John Williams, the Presbyterian missionary in
Nanking, while passing by a well in the street, just
after the examinations, saw the feet of a man sticking
out of the water. The day before a student had
accidentally let fall a drop of ink on his essay. Seeing
that all hope of success was blotted out, and not
having time to repair the damage or re-write the
essay, he determined to plunge head foremost into
the well and thus end his disappointment and
his life together. The man was the unhappy
student.

In former days, I was informed, it was the custom
for one of the officials to stand on the small bridge
which spans the central gateway, and wave a black,
oblong flag. Just before the candidates entered the
Examination Hall, he would call out : —

" Yiu en pao en ;
Yiu cheu pao cheu.**

Then the big drum in the middle watch tower would
beat. The students knew well that the Master of
Ceremonies was calling down vengeance on the man-

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A FORMIDABLE ORDEAL 27

slayer, the unrighteous, or the profane, who dared to
show his face in those holy precincts. Silverfoil in the
shape of ingots was burnt to hustle the avenging spirits,
and a terrific yell from the thousands of competitors
would be the response, " The Avenger is here, the
Avenger is here."

Morality is curiously inwrought into the educational
system of China, and the students believed that some
ferocious spirit would at this time enter and strike the
depraved candidate dead; and many succumbed to a
superstitious dread and died on the spot. For obvious
reasons, this test has been discontinued by the Govern-
ment.

The examination held in the year of grace one thou-
sand nine hundred and two, in the eighth moon, was
by the special grace of the Emperor. Ordinarily, the
number of those who receive the degree is one hundred
and forty-five, but, this being a special examination,
it was doubled, and in addition forty-nine special
degrees of honourable mention were presented. About
one in every hundred candidates succeeds. The odds
against him have been tremendous, and the physical
and mental strain have been terrible, but he obtains
a reward that, to the Chinese mind, fully compensates
for all the toil and patience that have been expended.
He receives a moderate sum called the "cup and
platter stipend," worth about four Mexican dollars,
with an additional small fee for the " flag and tablet."
The latter he is allowed to exhibit at his home. This
is usually done with great gusto— and amid the ac-
clamations of his numerous friends and relatives.
Passing along the streets of a Chinese city, one some-
times sees on a front door large strips of red paper on
which is written the name of one of the household, and
the fact that he has successfully passed the Triennial

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28 DISTRIBUTION OF LITERATURE

Examination at his Provincial city. He is, in
fact, even more honoured than the captain of a
triumphant football team in the United States of
America !

I was told by plump Mr. Plum, who has just passed
his examinations, that the official Proclaimer has
devised a means of announcing the successful candidates
to the world before the great doors are unsealed and
the momentous fact verbally made known. This
inventive genius ties the names of the victors, fifty at
a time, to the legs of carrier pigeons, and the cat is out
of the bag before the students have left the hall.

The examinations provide the missionaries with a
rare opportunity. Although they begin on the fifth
day of the eighth moon, the literature usually presented
to the students is not distributed until the night of the
eleventh day, the purpose being that only those who
pass the three tests should have the reading matter.
The students usually enter their cells about three a.m.,
carrying food and candles, and remain in for two whole
days. They then all pass out, and the successful ones
enter a second time at about the same hour. These
remain the same length of time and again leave the
hall for a brief recess. More drop out, having failed
to pass the second examination. The winnowing
process was continued three times this year, and
it was after this last ordeal that the missionaries,
between eleven p.m. and three-thirty A.M., made the
distribution to those who underwent the latter test.
Fifteen thousand packets of literature were distributed
that night to as many students, all of whom had taken
the third examination. Each packet was composed
of four books, generally Corinthians I., the Gospel of
Mark or Luke, with two bocrfcs on easy science, both
distinctly Christian,

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AN EXAMINATION DISPENSARY 29

After making enquiry among the students, I found
that these books were read by more than the one person
to whom they were given. On former occasions many
were thrown away, but a great change has taken place,
and this year every book was gratefully received.
There have been cases where books distributed in this
way were the means of the conversion of small villages
or market towns, and the eventual establishment of
churches. Now, I estimate that these sixty thousand
volumes during the next ten years will be read by at
least three hundred thousand people, which seems to
me a reasonable calculation. The distribution of books
is not a novelty in China. For a thousand years at
least certain meritorious literature has been scattered
among the people by Chinese philanthropists who wish
to ventilate their views; and the missionaries, by dis-
tributing good books at the examination, are simply
following a custom that has been in vogue for centuries.

I must mention one other examination curiosity.
Inside the Hall is a dispensary where students
taken ill may apply for a concoction. This year, the
examinations took place when a cholera epidemic was
raging, and the Government supplied each student,
free of charge, with a vial of medicine obtained at a
foreign hospital, with the stipulation that, on the first
indication of the disease, it would be taken without
delay. Not to be outdone by the watchful foreigner,
a wealthy Chinese philanthropist in the city prepared
the following prescription for the cure of the disease.
His medicine was also distributed gratuitously during
the epidemic. Notice: there is no intoxicant in this
medicine. The man in China who discovered the
process of manufacturing wine from rice was banished
the Empire forty centuries ago. The following are
the ingredients : —

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30 A TERRIFYING PRESCRIPTION

Rhinoceros excrement 2 tsien

Baroos camphor 4 "

Alum 5 "

Nitrate of Potash ij4 "

Gold leaf 100 leaves

Urine sediment 8 tsien

Indigo refuse 5 "

Ephedra vulgaris 4 "

Borax 3 "

Lamp black i oz.

Red sulphide of arsenic i "

Toad spittle cakes iH "

Soap tree pods 3 "

Cinnabar 2 "

Pearls 3 tsien

Musk 3 "

Mix and make into a fine powder.

Dose: One fen in water; if the case is severe, a
double dose is to be taken. The Chinese ounce, which
is heavier than ours, is divided into ten parts called
tsien, and ten fen make one tsien. The doctor sent me
a diminutive China bottle with a tightly rolled paper
stopper, resembling a section of a fire-cracker. It
contains the Cholera Mixture. I shall keep it with me
on the outside, and perhaps present it to some bacterio-
logical congress as my contribution to medical science.

I remember on one occasion while walking along
one of the principal streets in the Southern Capital, I
passed several doorless kitchens, and then came upon
two criminals locked together with a heavy wooden
collar round their necks. .Thin paper, bearing inscrip-
tions and giving an account of the crime for which they
were being punished, and their names, was pasted on
the collar. Several folds of brown paper were used to
shade their eyes from the sunlight, and their faces from
shame in the presence of a staring mob. This clever
devise was fastened over the forehead by a dexterous
twist of the pigtail. One of these young men had been
a student at the Disciples' School; but because of a

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MORALITY EAST AND WEST 31

defect in his moral character, which he was unwilling
to remedy, he was dismissed from the institution. Now,
the Chinaman yields to the spirit of revenge, but seldom
to the spirit of vengeance. The dismissal rankled in
the young man's mind, and he determined not to trust
the carrying-out of his plan to one of the spirits hauled
up over the city wall in baskets, but to take matters
into his own Rands. He stole the school telescope,
and thus got his revenge on the institution by being
publicly cangued. In this action of the poor ignorant
pigtail and that of the learned German officers, who
not only stole an individual sky spy-glass, but gathered
in all the valuable ancient and modem astronomical
instruments of the Great Royal Observatory in Peking,
it is difficult to discover wherein the moral differentia-
tion lies. Of course, we know that " East is East and
West is West/' but is there a different code of morals
for Europe and Asia, or is practical morality to be
proportioned to the length of the hair, the shape of the
nose, or the colour of the skin ? A gentleman at Kiu-
kiang said, " The seizure of scientific instruments at the
capital occurred during a conflict known in civilised
annals as war/' To this my answer came promptly
that the poor pigtail who stole the telescope had also
declared war against his supposed enemies, the school
authorities.

Are the Christian Missions in Nanking doing any
good? In this Southern Capital, which politically
is the second city in the Empire, four missionary
societies are at work, and the number of native Chris-
tians is above eight hundred. I have attended a
Stmday afternoon service held in the chapel of Nan-
king University. The service was conducted by an
educated laymen, and when he asked those present
who were professing Christians to rise, I was consider-

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32 WHAT CHINA NEEDS

ably surprised to see at least three hundred and fifty
stand up, and in this way declare their faith in Jesus.

Next day I had a visit from a prominent official who
was educated in an American University, and who is a
vigorous and pronounced Confucianist. He is at the
same time a determined opponent of Christian missions,
and stated that in his opinion eighty per cent, of the
Christians were not genuine. The renfeining minority,
he said, were honest and of good intent. Even taking
this estimate as correct, the missionaries in Nanking
still have remaining one hundred and sixty real con-
verts, their enemies themselves being the judges. The
same Celestial gentleman told me that the officials all
consider the hospitals, and the school work done by
the missionaries, good and satisfactory. This plainly
shows that the learned Confucianist is no exception
to the less favoured of his race. Anything that is of
commercial and material advantage to China, each
alike is willing to have, let it come from any quarter.
My informant stated in addition that missionary work
in the cities is not objected to, but in the small villages
and country districts it causes trouble to the Yamens.
This statement led to my making further inquiries,
and I am inclined to think missionary work is more
promising in the country than in the town. Now, I
can easily imagine an official saying to himself, " Who
can say what these foreign devils are doing? Here in
town they are well within my reach, but off in the
country fifty, sixty, or even one hundred miles away,
who can say what they are up to, stealing the hearts
of my people? " This Celestial gentleman says that
what China needs more than a new learning is a new
spirit, and he suggests that if twenty thousand youths
— ^not old men who have their habits of mind and body
formed— could be sent to the United States and then

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ANTI-FOREIGN FEELING 33

returned to China with a new spirit, it would do
his native land incalculable good. I found out that
there is a tendency on the part of the Mandarins to
show the missionaries and native Christians a generous
consideration hitherto unknown; but in doing this,
they are often misunderstood by the ignorant populace,
who misinterpret the kindly motive. I have always
understood that die masses of China will come to a
just conclusion if left to themselves, and that the
anti-foreign feeling has been generated by the literati.
What he called " anger and resentment of the people "
is the harvest of seed sown by the Mandarins them-
selves. I felt sorely tempted to ask my friend how
far his honourable country had been benefited by his
pigtail being stowed away under a Yankee headgear.
Was it only that it might grow with a still more un-
bending stiffness?

Just before parting, I noticed a smile of satisfaction
rippling over his kindly yellow face. He rubbed his
hands, evidently calling to mind the injunction of the
Great Sage, the Master, to " deal tenderly with the
men from afar."

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Oh, that Heaven would always beget virtuous men and that
men would silways do good ! — Inscription on a Temple,

CHAPTER III.

NANKING TO HANKOW * GLORY FACE ' STALE

WITTICISMS REGARDING MISSIONARIES — ^ARE

MISSIONS A SUCCESS ? — AMERICAN GUEST-ROOMS

A VISIT TO THE VICEROY, TUAN FANG.

LSIA KWAN is a suburb of the
Southern Capital, lying on the
river side. Here I stopped at
a combination store and inn
at the rate of one forty-cent
dollar a night, and slept on
the floor upstairs. There was
a bed, but there were also
agile indications that I would
feel easier wrapped in my gimlet-proof oilcloth on the
floor. It is not surprising that one should dream imder
these circumstances. The night vision was an exag-
geration of a Story I heard near the Baby Towers. I
must relate the true tale. During the Taiping rebel-
lion there lived at Nanking a man who, occupying an
official position, had to do with the purchase of arms
and ammunition for the forces defending the Manchu
D)masty. He purchased wooden arms and a lot of
ammunition absolutely worthless, and pocketed most

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TUAN FANG, ACTING VICEROY OF HU KUANG.

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A HEATHEN CHINEE 35

of the nimble ftinds allowed for the purchase. His
treasonable rascality became known at the Court, and
high (^cials were despatched from Pricing to remove
his head and carve him up. Being a man of great
wealth, he sent to the approaching representatives of
the Emperor valuable presents, and later on received
these functionaries into his own residence, el^antly
and lavishly entertained them, and made such an
equitable division of his wealth that the would-be
executioners were diverted from their purpose. But
an emperor's edict cannot be openly trifled with,
so a very shrewd scheme was laid and hatched. On a
certain day, the executioners, with their attendants,
gathered together with great fuss. The streets were
lined with troops, and it was given out that the offender
had been beheaded. To prove the fact, the defaulting
warrior was carried out in a laige wooden coffin, and,
with befitting ceremony, removed to the country,
there to await the decision of the geomancers as to a
propitious site for the burial. The man is still living
in Nanking, enjoying the funds contributed by the
Emperor for the purpose of bona fide cannon !

At five o'clock a.m. the almond-eyed landlord
rushed up the stairs and shouted out that the ship had
come. Hastily rolling up our -bundles, we went down
the slippery river bank to a mudscow, or monster sam-
pan, flat-bottomed and square-nosed, which lay ready
to take us off to the steamer " Handsome Investment."
It was brilliant moonlight, almost equal to that of the
fifteenth day of the eighth moon centuries ago, when
an ancient Emperor decreed that in (perpetual)
memoriam a feast should be held. A stout Chinese
slipped the mooring, and amidst a crowd of jabbering,
gesticulating, indifferently-smelling Chinese, we gently
floated on the quiet river to the " Handsome Invest-

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36 ' GLORY FACE '

ment." We allowed the swarm of Chinese, each with
his bundles of generous proportions, to scramble on
board first, which they all did without blustering, but
with startling rapidity. Then we got cm with our
luggage and discovered that all the first-class native
cabins, with the exception of our own, previously
engaged, were occupied by a wealthy merchant, his
wives and domestics. One little slave girl slept in
the corridor at the door of an apartment occupied by
her mistress. Each foot of the women was bound
distressingly tight, into a compass no larger than a
baby's hand, and their cheeks and the centre of the
lower lips were daubed with red paint.

As on the first stage of the journey, we zig-zagged
up the river. The scenery along the shore was mostly
uninteresting, but we were told that if the day had been
clear, the mountains back of Kiukiang would have
furnished a delightful picture.

After passing a line of low mountains topped with
sand, at one-thirty p.m. on the eighteenth day of the
eleventh moon, " Handsome Investment " dropped
anchor off the city of Nine Rivers, Kiukiang. Here
I met Glory Face, so called by appreciative Celes-
tials, who is one of the wealthiest missionaries in the
East. Glory Face presented to the China Inland
Mission two of the large buildings in Woosung Road,
Shanghai. He also provided the money for one school
building now used for the education of the children
of missionaries at Chefoo. Glory Face is a constant
and liberal supporter of various evangelistic agencies.
He lives at Nine Rivers in his own house, like himself
square^ genteel, and comfortable. I found this shrewd
intelligent business man full of enthusiasm and hope-
ful anticipation. Now, I can easily think of some
foolish traveller, not knowing these facts, being gratui-

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A PECULIAR RATE OF EXCHANGE 37

tously entertained by this rich but self-sacrificing gentle-
man, and then writing an adverse criticism. A certain
literary rascal, whose real grievance is that he was bom
too late to discover this planet, actually did so.
Glory Face, as the Chinese have well named him, for
it may be said of him, as of Moses in the ancient story,
" his face shone," came down to " Handsome Invest-
ment" to say farewell to a friend departing up the
river. Being a big, commercial man, he related to me
the following business-like story. Mr. Willow is
an old man who had just celebrated his eightieth
birthday. About eleven years ago, in his zeal to
spread the Gospel, he gave up his own house to be
used as a place for preaching. He also paid for the
support of a native helper, and so very eager was he
for the salvation of souls that he prayed long and
earnestly for the conversion of twenty men. When
the time came for examining candidates for baptism,
the native helper had no less than fifty-six names on
his list; but Glory Face urged that, as this was the
commencement of the work in the place, they should
be especially careful whom th^ received. The num-
ber was reduced to twenty-eight, of whom only four-
teen were found to be sufficiently instructed to receive
the rite. When this was mentioned to the old man,
he was very much distressed, because he had prayed
earnestly that twenty might be gathered in. He
asked Glory Face if he could not agree to admit six
more in order that his prayer might be fully answered.
When told it could not be done, Mr. Willow went home
very sad. " Next morning I met him," said Glory
Face, " and he was quite joyful, so I asked him what
had wrought the change.

He explained that on further thought he had
discovered that his prayer had really been answered.

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38 STEREOTYPED SLANDERS

because the local method of reckoning makes seven
equal to ten, and so fourteen equals twenty, the actual
number he had been praying for."

It is the case in China that when speaking of one
thousand cash, eight hundred, or even less, is the
number understood; and business is conducted on
this basis. This reminds one of the antics of some
people enjoying a more modern civilisation; for
instance, the old man whose clock was slightly out of
order, and yet by it he managed to calculate the correct
time by the following rule : " When it points to four
it strikes eleven, and then I know it is seven-twenty."

It happened once upon a time, not very many years
ago, that a certain man dressed himself as a missi(mary,
travelled overland from Shanghai to Bhamo, Burma,
sponging on the missionaries en route, and then bragged
that he made the journey for less than twenty pounds.
After accepting the hospitality and profiting by the
thousand acts of kindness on tiie part of unsuspecting
and whole-souled Christian workers, he wrote villifying
his entertainers or their work. It reminds me of the
snake story in iEsop's Fables. This same individual
made statements which were shrewdly calculated
to mislead. He is a fair example of a slick
literary adventurer. Here is a sample of his perform-
ances. In Hankow he stopped with the representative
of a certain Bible Society who was also acting for
three other societies. Now, the tramp bodc-maker,
after stopping for about a week with this gentleman,
afterwards had the audacity to state that these three
societies had each one representative of its own in the
city, making three in all. He also re-hashed certain
mouldy stories still told amidst the fumes of tobacco
smoke and whiskey by foul-mouthed retailers of any-
thing that has a tendency to besmirch the characters

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HANKOW 39

of noble, self-sacrificing missionaries. It is still some-
what the fashion among men in these parts, whose
language is not fit for ladies and children to hear, to
run down missionaries. Archibald, of Hankow, says:
" When I first came up the river they told me that
there was a Christian washerman here who was a
Deacon of a missionary society, but who had been
found wearing the clothes of his customers put out to
wash. (This was twenty-six years ago, and the yam
is still told to travellers.) I consulted with Dr. Blank
and we invited the man who complained to me that
his clothes had been worn, to come to the house, and
confront the culprit. When the Deacon was brought
in, the complainant said, 'Oh, this is not the man.'
'But this,' we said, 'is the only Christian washer-
man in the city.' ' I have found since,' added
Archibald, 'that there is in every port a Chinese
Deacon washerman who wears the clothes of his
patrons.' " There is another old chestnut about the
Chinese bootmaker who uses the books which have
been given him by the missionaries for boot soles.
The Chinese, on the contrary, regard the characters
in books as sacred, and would not use them for such a
purpose. You see little receptacles in the. streets
where even the smallest scraps of written paper are
religiously burnt. For many years the paper leavings
of the machines used by the Bible Society in Hankow
would be taken away by the native " Respect Written
Paper Society " and carefully incinerated. They are
now buried. The scribbling tramp was a small critic.
When I think of him something reminds me of a cipher
with the rim cut off.

Like Boston, Hankow is frequently referred to as
the hub of the universe. It is six hundred miles
distant from Shanghai, the mart of eight provinces,

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40 THE SUCCESS OF MISSIONS

and a city of great importance. There are really three
cities, all forming one large metropolis. At this point
the Han River joins the Yangtze. Hankow has a
population of about eight hundred thousand, and on
the same side of the river (the East), but just across
the Han, is the city of Hanyang; while opposite to it
across the Yangtze is Wuchang, the capital of the two
Provinces of Hupeh and Hunan. The combined
population of Greater Hankow is perhaps a million
and a half. Hankow is the city of merchants ; Hany-
ang, the city of manufacturers; and Wuchang, the
city of mandarins. Hankow is famous as a business
centre, and has water communication with ten out of
the eighteen provinces. From this point you are in
touch with nearly every important spot in the empire,
and it was in former years the great postal centre.
The Hankow and Peking Railroad, whidi has been in
process of construction for five years, now runs trains
for one hundred and thirty miles out of the city. The
promoters expect to connect Peking in another five
years. The first month it was opened the receipts
amounted to only six hundred Mexican dollars, and
the last month (the fifth) they realized twenty-six
thousand dollars. It is a Belgian accession, financed
with French money, and is under Russian protection.
They insist on doing everything in French style; the
employees do not remain long with them.

The general impression is that the railroad will not
pay in the end, if the agreement is kept; for the
Chinese authorities in granting the concession drove
a very hard bargain. The management seems to lack
good sense. As a sample — some time ago they sent
out a list of tariff rates, and the first item referred to
four-wheeled carriages. The fact is, there are few, if
any, of this kind of vehicles in Central China.

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TltE SACRED TRFK OF ICHANG,
|icscitirtifiP(% €>!)< TiriL *5jc}a Boakuj hqvivalent to

"AaK Ah[» St SHALL iltCCIVE,'*

tHi

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<

^ £\

a:

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CHINESE FAVOURING CHRISTIANITY 41

Here are located large Government ircMi works and
blast furnaces, a monster cotton mill, a mint, and other
ketones, equipped with modem machinery 'and pro-
bably run at a loss to the state. All these represent
a praiseworthy effort of the most progressive Viceroy,
Chang Chi-tung, to develop the resources of the empire.

In these three cities forming Greater Hankow
there are represented eleven Protestant, and several
Roman Catholic Missionary Societies. As in British
New Guinea, so here, some means have been devised
by the Protestants for dividing the field, in order to
prevent the overlapping of work. They wisely follow
the principle that while the supply of heathen holds
out, competition for the same ccmverts should be
avoided. Seventy-one Protestant missionaries have
their headquarters here, but many of them occupy
most of their time in making long and laborious jour-
neys throughout the two Provinces of Hunan and
Hupeh. One native church in Hankow has a regular
Sunday daylight attendance of over five hundred
Chinese, and the regular congregation in the Baptist
Chapel in Hanyang is about six hundred. Around*
this centre over ten thousand Protestant Christians
are to be found. Mission work has now assumed
a very interesting phase. The Chinese are clamouring
to join the Christian Church, villages and clans en bloc.
They agree to provide chapels, schools, and the salaries

* The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society has sixty-eight
chnrches and preaching stations in the region of the Three Cen-
tral Cities, as Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang are called.

Between Hankow and Kiukiang the Yangtze is divided into
six stages, roughly of thirty miles each. At the end of each stage
there is a large city or town. At four of the five towns the Wes-
leyans are working.

In Hankow the three Wesleyan chapels record large congre-
gations. The Ch'iao k'ou Chapel is well situated for reaching the
tmmense hoating population, and also the market gardeners who
live jttst outside the boundaries of the town.

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42 THE COST OF THE MISSIONS

of preachers. There are two views among Christians
as to what should be done under the circumstances.
One is to take them as they are, admit them to the
Church, and then teach them. The other is to decHne
to receive them until they become more thoroughly
instructed. These people are honest country folk,
and when they are properly taught bid fair to make
good Christians. Ever since the Boxer movement
there has been this decided leaning towards the
Christian Church. One reason that people want to
join the Church is that they will then belong to a
society with some backbone in it; they labour under
the impression that the Christian Church is an institu-
tion of this kind. The individual in China amotmts to
little — he is simply a cog in a wheel, and all Chinese
are afraid of being left alone. If the missionaries take
the right advantage of the present situation, and direct
the movement in the proper way, Central China will be
evangelized in the near future. To paraphrase Voltaire's
dictum about his own countrymen, " The (Chinese)
always come late to things, but they do come at last."
Let us look at the cost of missionary work in China.
At present there are about three thousand Pro-
testant missionaries in China; there are also
fifteen thousand paid native preachers, Bible women,
and other helpers. These eighteen thousand mission-
aries receive about three million five hundred thousand
gold dollars per annum. Now, after making careful
enquiries, and questioning men who calculate upon a
conservative mental basis, I figure out that each one
will present the Gospel, on an average, to two hundred
heathen Chinese, which would make a sum total of
three million, six hundred thousand natives hearing the
Gospel by word of mouth in the year of our Lord one
thousand nine hundred and three. This would be less

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A RESULT OF THE BOXER MOVEMENT 43

than one gold dollar for each Chinese. This, of course,
does not include the gigantic work done by the college,
the school, and the hospital, nor the civilising influ-
ence upon those whose habits of mind and body are
modified by coming into contact with the multitudes of
native Christians. These have received a fresh impulse
from a new moral and spiritual idea imparted to them by
the words and actions of the missionaries of the Cross.

In the Empire at the present time, there are to be
fotmd over one hundred thousand Protestant native
communicants, together with five hundred thousand
regular and earnest enquirers who come regularly to
learn more about the Man of Galilee. To be accurate
in this reckoning, we must add another half a miUion
of irr^^lar and casual seekers after truth. And there
is still another item not to be forgotten; probably a
full million more who attend with some degree of regu-
larity a few of the preaching services. Missionaries
are certainly getting something done in China. Every
thoughtful reader will ask himself the question, " How
many of the vast population of China have thus far not
even heard the name of Jesus Christ? "

The Boxer movement, its rise, conflict with Chris-
tianity and eventual collapse, have by this time been
discussed by the natives ever)rwhere in China, even
to the utmost limits of the Empire. These events,
emphasised in the most practical way by an increased
taxation for indemnity, have probably brought some
news of the Gospel to at least three hundred millions
of the population of China. Who shall then say
that the large number of missionaries who suffered a
bloody martyrdom at the hands of vicious and violent
mobs during the memorable year of nineteen hundred,
will not by their death accomplish far more than they
could possibly have done otherwise?

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44 AMERICAN GUEST-ROOMS

An admirable institution has been started by two
young Americans, Ingle and Roots, the former of whom
has recently been made a bishop. They have won
the hearts of the Chinese by opening a guest-room in
connection with the work of the American Episcopal
Mission in Hankow. They have found this a more
effective way of preaching the gospel than the ordinary
street chapel. The Chinese visitor is treated as a
guest in the most approved native fashion. In this
room the missionaries and their native assistants
come into close contact with the Chinese, many of
whom come regularly and receive constant instruction.
The noise and confusion of the street chapel
preaching is avoided. At first the visitors generally
come out of mere curiosity, but as they learn more and
more, a personal interest is awakened and many be-
come earnest seekers after God. Many "have a
knowledge of sin," as Mr. Wang, one of the assistants,
said, "but no personal feeling of its burden. When
they read the Ten Commandments they consider them-
selves guiltless of having transgressed the last four,
and they seem very pleased with this contemplation.
But when we explain the Commandments according
to the rule of the New Testament — ^that hate means
murder, and an unclean thought, adultery — ^the well-
inclined begin to see themselves in a different light.
We try at first simply to arouse this feeling of sin in
the heathen, and we have found that the poorer visitors
have a deeper sense of sin than the rich. This, how-
ever, comes from the fact that the Chinese consider
poverty the result of transgression, and as they do
not possess the means to buy expensive paper money
or win merit by Buddhist masses for ' Orphan Souls
and Wild Spirits,' who have none to care for them,
their sins and poverty increase more and more. We

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A SPECIAL HONOUR 45

often have sincere enquirers who declare that they
would fear to break the Commandments after hearing
about the sin-pardoning doctrine, because this would
be heaping sin upon sin."

The guest-room secures regular and constant teach-
ing, and preserves at the same time the etiquette so
dear to die Chinese heart. It also stimulates the
assistants to greater zeal and activity in bringing men
under the influence of the Gospel, and stirs them up to
keep the attendance constant. I was told of one
man, named Len, in good circumstances, who was
converted here, and is now conspicuous for his behef
in Christ. His parents are bigoted heathens, and his
sons firm friends of the literati who scorn the Christians.
Notwithstanding all this, Len perseveres in his belief,
and, like the single juror who still remained firm in his
convictions, although the other eleven held him out of
the window and threatened to let him drop, may in time
bring his opponents to see the truth of his position.

Greatness was thrust upon me at Hankow. In the
middle of the fourth time of the twentieth sun in
the eleventh moon of the Old Tiger, in rickety rickshas,
we started to call on the Viceroy, Tuan Fang. The
" we " consisted of three individuals, Montagu Beau-
champ, a representative of the United States Consulate,
and myself. The Viceroy of Hukuang, before my
arrival, had called on the American Consul and ar-
ranged with him to give me an audience at two-thirty
P.M. of this sun. This special interest in me was
probably due to certain telegraphic instructions re-
ceived by the Viceroy from Peking. At any rate, he
bestowed a special honour on my insignificant self by
making the arrangements before he was asked to do
so. UpcMi my arrival in Hankow it was pouring with
rain, and I learned that divers steamships far up the

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46 THE FOREIGNERS' STREET

Yangtze were laid up— or rather stuck up— on mud
and sand banks. The ship going up at noon, this sun,
would probably be the only one for ten suns, so
through my honourable Consul I made request to see
the Viceroy at nine-thirty this A.M., which request
was cheerfully granted.

Passing the American Consulate, we swung round
the comer of the beautiful Bund, or paved foreshore.
This road, or street, the most beautiful in China, is
restricted to foreigners, and even the wealthy Chinese
who travel in elegant equipages are prohibited from
riding here. The sidewalk is still more select — a
Chinese is not permitted to put his foot on it. But
this seems reasonable. There are so many of them
that if they took a notion to have a promenade, the
walk and everything else would be appropriated, for if
you give a Chinese an inch he will take a thousand miles.

The coolies pulled our rickshas in a winding course
through muddy and narrow streets or lanes — ^alleys
hung with long, narrow perpendicular boards on which
were written, or rather brushed, signs, strange hiero-
glyphics of the Celestials. Shorter and wider ones
in English were swung horizontally. We had to cross
the river in a boat, for His Excellency lives on the other
sicje. How we managed to get to the approach leading
down the miserable stone stairs to a still more miser-
able old hulk, without killing any natives or upsetting
any of the wares of the small vendors on the comers,
this deponent sayeth not.

The water, which is low at this time of the year, in
the summer months is full fifty feet higher. Then
the poor people, now living in low squat mat huts on
the river bank, will be driven to seek other and more
comfortable quarters. The Consular representative
swore liberally and told me '' that there are as many

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AN ILLOGICAL CONSUL 47

different sorts of missions in these three cities as there
are brands of cigarettes." This is evidently a " smart "
stock saying with him, for it has the effete and musty
savour and flavour of the shelves, and had evidently
been on hand (or rather on lip) for a long time. He
told me very confidentially, as he has doubtless often
told others, that even he cannot fully distinguish
between the missionaries, there are so many varieties,
and if he cannot do it, how dreadfully muddled the
heathen must get! I thought this a frightful non
sequitur, but held my peace.

The ferry boat was on the opposite side, but after
we had waited fully fifteen minutes, it puffed into
view. A fat Chinaman was responsible for our still
further delay, because his lean coolie with two large
boxes away up on top of the stairs seemed to be deaf.
Later, he got his hearing and brought the boxes down,
so off we started and duly arrived at Wuchang behind
time. Ascending to the Street level, we got into
rickshas of a breed similar to' those in Hankow. After
entering Uit city gate, our way lay along a narrow,
muddy business street at the far end of which was the
Governor's Yamen, with the Viceroy in residence.
When half-way between the gate and the Yamen, a
horseman came galloping forward. On meeting us,
he reined up and asked for our cards. I handed him a
large red one on which was written my name in Chinese.
With this he cantered off. We soon reached the
outer gate of the Yamen, where a few policemen were
standing, and rode through this, leaving our rickshas
just inside. Large " Dragon Gates " were swung
open and in we went, passing by a detail of soldiers
with stacked arms; then we shook hands with the
secretaries who had come out to receive us, passed
double sentries who presented arms, and emerged into

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48 MEETING THE VICEROY

an open court. During this time I engaged in conversa-
tion with Mr. Saoke Alfred Sze, M.A., oi Cornell,
Private Secretary to the Viceroy Tuan Fang. Mn
Sze speaks English fluently, and is a fine fellow who
seems to enjoy the happiest recollections of his student
days in America.

More soldiers presented arms, and then the Viceroy !
He had come out to extend a hearty welcome which
he accompanied with a vigorous handshake in a truly
American fashion. I found him no ordinary man,
probably under sixty years of age, medium height,
solidly built, and wearing foreign goldrrimmed spec-
tacles. With true Wiestem politeness, he bade me
enter the audience room just in front. This I did, the
Viceroy following. The room was oblong, and mea-
sured perhaps twenty by thirty feet. Directly oppo-
site the entrance, were the two seats with a table
between them, common to all Chinese houses of the
better class. Four large box-shaped lanterns hung
from the ceiling, and in the midst one Rochester lamp.
A long foreign table spread with a white cloth, and
furnished with knives, forks and plates and equipped
with foreign chairs, stood ready set. The Viceroy
passed to the head of the table and motioned me to
take the seat on his left, which, in China, is the seat
of honour. After we were seated, four dishes of
different kinds of cakes, two varieties of fruit, tea,
cigars, cigarettes and champagne were brought in.
The programme was that we should first take some
champagne, but as I use no intoxicating drinks of
any kind, I politely declined. Out x)f courtesy, that
I thought highly commendable, no one drank. Indi-
cating to the Viceroy that I desired a private conver-
sation, all promptly retired except Sze and myself, and
we two were alone with the man who had saved the

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VICEROY TUAN FANG 49

lives of many foreigners during the exciting times of
the Boxer outbreak.

This enlightened and humane viceroy is a Manchu
and a relative of Prince Tuan, the notorious anti-
foreign leader. At the time of the Boxer troubles he
was Governor of Shensi. Only the Yellow River
separated him from the Boxers, and it would have
been natural for him to lend this movement his aid
and influendb; but his calmer judgment prevailed, and
he steadfastly refused to countenance it. He re-
ceived with great cordiality the missionaries who
fled across the river from the fanatical fury of the
Boxers, and besides furnishing them with food and
travelling expenses, gave them other presents. Such
are the eccentricities of fortune, it so happened that
while he was protecting foreigners in Shensi his resi-
dence in Peking was being sacked by the Allies, and
even his ancestral tablets were stolen. An effort on
the part of the Allies has since been made to get these
tablets back.

It would be beneficial to the Chinese, as well as to
ourselves, if all the officials like Tuan Fang and others
of his kind, who befriended the foreigners in their ex-
tremity against the common consent of the Chinese,
were publicly recognised and honoured in some way
by Europeans. This would accomplish far more good
than cutting off the heads of delinquent officials who
were caught red-handed. Viceroy Tuan saved the
lives of scores of foreigners directly and indirectly, for
his beneficent example was followed by the officials
in the adjoining Province of Kansuh. And his action
seems more commendable \^hen we consider the fact
that, unlike the other powerful Viceroys who disre-
garded the fatal edict to exterminate the foreigners,
he possessed no military force sufficient to defend his

D

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50 A FRIEND OF MISSIONARIES

position, but stood alone. And it seems strange to
us that, a few months after, the defeated Empress
Dowager and her Court took refuge in the very Pro-
vince whose ruler had deliberately disobeyed the Im-
perial commands! It gives better promise of a
friendly attitude towards Europeans to know that
Tuan Fang, who defied the Dowager, protected the
defenceless missionaries, and afterwards administered
to the wants of the fugitive Court, is now promoted
to one of the highest posts of honour and responsibility
in the Chinese Empire. Missionaries will always re-
member that he provided a means of safety for their
persecuted brethren and sisters in dire distress; and
sent them away in peace under a strong escort of
troops who were given the strictest orders to guard
and defend them until they were out of danger. And
the soldiers obeyed their master and did their duty,
never leaving their charges until they met the native
relief party of Chang Chih-tung, sent out from Han-
kow to succour and receive them.

Because of his position and quality, I venture to
put on record part of the conversation I had with this
shrewd and influential Viceroy. Said he, "I asked the
missionaries, both of the Roman Catholic and Prot-
estant Churches, about the literary equipment of their
Chinese converts, and they all said that out of ten
thousand members only four had taken the first lit-
erary degree, and that none had taken the second de-
gree. I would say that only thirty per cent, of the
Chinese are qualified to act as pastors. Naturally, I
should prefer to have Chinese missionaries, if they
were only sufficiently educated. About seventy per
cent, of the foreign missionaries who are University
graduates are doing good work, and are in every re-
spect good men. In a number of cases Protestant mis-

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MISSIONARIES AND TAXES 51

sionaries have helped to remove wrong impressions.
For instance, one missionary heard that some of his
members were trying to evade payment of taxes, and
he promptly reported them to the local authorities."
When the Viceroy told me this he smiled with evident
satisfaction and appreciation. Taxes lie next to the
heart of the Chinese Mandarin.

" Missionaries should be properly governed. If a
missionary breaks the law, he should be reported to
the superior or to the Consul. If, after an impartial
investigation is made, it be discovered that no great
wrong has been committed, let him be transferred to
another part of the country. On the other hand, if
he be found guilty, let him be transported to the land
from whence he came. Chinese officials are now
partial to the missionaries."

" Medical missionaries are welcome," he said, with
evident satisfaction, as if he had the recollection of
having been healed under some Christian surgeon's
hand ; then adjusting his glasses and leaning forward,
" The educational work of the missionaries is for the
most part commendable, but some consider education
a secondary matter and religion of first importance.
Requiring the scholars in mission schools to attend
church services frightens the higher classes and fore-
stalls their patronage."

Just at this point the Viceroy's son entered and was
introduced. He speaks a little English, and his father
expects to send him to America to be educated. I
asked the Viceroy where it would be most agreeable
to him for the missionaries to work. He replied that,
at the present time, it would be easier to protect the
missionaries who lived in the cities. And he preferred
that they should not remain in the country districts
where there are no troops. Formerly there was

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52 VICEREGAL COURTESIES

trouble between the Christians and the non-Christians
only; now the Catholics and the Protestants are fre-
quently at daggers' points. " Confidentially," he said,
lowering his voice as if he had some great secret to
impart (it was well done), "money has been loaned
by missionaries at a very high rate of interest, and I
want to ask whether the managers of missionary
societies know this, and whether it is according to
their rules." Then he heartily said, " There are many
good men among the American missionaries, and,
should more be sent out, let them have a good educa-
tion as well as a good character ;" and again he man-
aged to inform me in a very polite fashion that medical
missionaries and others who would get the people to
pay their taxes are always welcome. Looking at this
even from a worldly point of view, it is reasonable that
the native convert should be taught to pay the taxes
levied by his Government. It is surely scriptural that
custom should be paid to whom custom is due. The
Saviour himself once paid a tax even though it was
unjustly demanded. Chinese officials judge Chris-
tianity by the acts of its converts.

Our interview lasted more than an hour. After
making me some valuable and suitable presents, he
promised to telegraph orders to Ichang that all cour-
tesy and needful protection should be accorded to me;
and after attending me into the open court, wished
me a prosperous voyage. Some guns were fired in
my honour, and bidding the Viceroy good-bye, I
started off in dignified haste to catch the steamer that
was to carry me still farther up the great Yangtze.
Before we left the wharf a messenger from His Excel-
lency hastened on board and presented me with the
Viceroy's card as a final expression of good-will and
esteem.

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i'L()r(;ni\i; a rice field with a water buffalo.

PLOUGHING WITH CHINESE COOLIES NEAR ICHAXG.

xvii

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NATIXK (.RAVKYARD IN ICllANC.

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CHIKF YAMKN Ol" ICIlANC.

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A ft ^ :f 1.

Insects do not bite Busy Men.

CHAPTER IV.

Native Himaeboat

THE KING RIVER — FROM HANKOW TO ICHANG

RIOTS AND REBELLIONS IN CHINA CHRISTMAS

NIGHT— OLD MOON AND THE YANKEE FLAG.

'HE " Harmony of the River/*
trtherwise known as the three-
decker "Kiang Wo," lay at
her wharf in Hankow, draw-
ing five feet eight inches of
water. Her skipper draws
whiskey. She is a twin-screw
vessel of two hundred and
seventy-five feet in length,
new, well fitted for the upper river traffic. There are
no electric bells in the foreign cabins, and even the
captain has to rap on the one-inch partitions for the
" boy." It was late on the nineteenth Sun of the
eleventh Moon of the Old Tiger, that is otherwise
known as the twenty-sixth year of Kwang Su, when
we slipped our moorings and swung out into the cur-
rent. In the summer the water flows by Hankow at
the rate of six knots an hour. It is now running about
two. Thus the next stage of my long journey across
the Middle Kingdom was begun. The scenery along
the Yangtze had thus far been monotonous; but the

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54 THE GREAT RIVER HIGHWAY ^

river itself is wonderful. It is the single means of
communication between the Western and most densely
populated portion of the Empire, and the Yellow Sea;
and it is the only highway open for traffic across this
ancient country. The traveller in China has no option
but to follow the advice of Plautus : —

Viam qui nescit, qua deveniat ad mare
Eum oportet amnem quaerere comitem sibi.

While there are roads in the North along which those
strange, two-wheeled, springless mule carts bump and
jar, in the great Yangtze basin there are no wide high-
ways smooth enough for even these vehicles, but only
narrow footpaths instead. The Yangtze is an un-
polluted stream; this, I think, is generally true of
Chinese rivers, and is due to the imperative need of
all kinds of refuse for the fertilization of the fields.
The Celestial farmer very carefully preserves anything
that can be applied to enrich the soil, so that barring
the sediment, I would not hesitate to drink the water
taken out of the current of the " King River," as the
Yangtze is called above Shasi. The second night we
cast anchor in dead slack water opposite the open port
" Mother-in-law," or Yochow, in Hunan. It was a
dull and misty night.

On the previous journey down the Yangtze, the
Harmony of the River anchored at this same place,
where a riot of a very unusual kind occurred. The
story, as related by the skipper, is as follows. One
of the cooks, in company with his assistant, took a
basket of oranges and went ashore to exchange them
for fresh eggs. He was rushed by a company of
roughs, who upset his basket, stole his oranges, and
chased him into the river. Being an agile Celestial,
he jumped into a sampan and hastily put off for th^
Harmony of the River, leaving the unfortunate assis-

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A RIOT IN ' MOTHER-IN-LAW ' 55

tant in the hands of his assailants. While clambering
Up the side, he called the crew to arms. This crew
is composed entirely of Cantonese, who are usually
very quiet and well-behaved, but the cook's adventure
roused them, and with capstan bars, winch levers,
furnace pokers and other firearms, they jumped into
sampans and started off to wreak vengeance. On the
way plans for an attack were laid and a vigorous cam-
paign outlined. Eager for the fray, they landed at
Mother-in-law and made a bee line for the Yamen,
where the cook's assistant, who had been brought be-
fore the official, was being tried. The angry Cantonese,
striking right and left with their ship irons as they
went along, knocked in the door and descended on
the Court. The magistrate was so frightened that
he shouted to the prisoner, " You are acquitted,"
and then took to his heels. The raid so far had been
well-timed and successful, but the doughty Mandarin
did not run long before he gave two toots on his bugle
and called his soldiers to the rescue. A free fight
followed. The soldiers drove the rescuers back to the
shore, where, some in sampans and some swimming,
they reached the steamer. Two of the boat's crew
were missing, and several others had bayonet gashes
in their heads and were laid up for repairs. From the
days of Pliny to the present time, the normal state of
the Chinese Empire has been one of peace. At times,
however, there have been local riots, and at long in-
tervals widespread rebellions and revolutions. As a
sample of what the Chinaman can produce in the line
of revolution, look at the terrible Taiping Rebellion.
The war-cry of that movement was, " Down with the
idols ! " Probably ten million lives were sacrificed,
directly or indirectly, in that great upheaval. Had it
succeeded, the missionaries now going up the Yangtze

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56 THE BORDERS OF THIBET

on the Harmony of the River would probably be
wending their way to some other part of the globe,
because the Mandiu dynasty would have been over-
thrown by those who were favourable to Christianity.
Then might have been bom a Christian nation of four
hundred millions of people!

So recently as only fifteen or twenty years ago, the
r^ion of the upper Yangtze had but few visitors, and
even now, there are few who would not be inclined to
say that except the missionaries, travellers are not
numerous. Be it remembered that what the Consuls
know and the public generally, comes for the most
part from these same mission workers. In the Western
Provinces the missionary has no easy life. Callum,
of Song Pan, who labours on the Thibetan border, tells
how, one winter evening, when the snow lay on the
ground, a wild-looking messenger came in great haste
to ask if he could go with him at once to Chang La,
forty H north of Song Pan, to see a sick man. He con-
sented and they issued forth. Passing this town and
going beyond the last garrison on the borders of
Thibet, they saw, in a lonely place by the riverside, a
mill and a solitary hut into which, at the request of his
guide, the missionary entered. In a room he found
a man lying on a bed of sheepskins in the comer. He
proved to be a Thibetan who had been wounded. After
bidding the visitor welcome in a coarse but courteous
way, he put his hand under his back and brought out
a large bundle of what appeared to be sheep's wool,
saying eagerly, " Here it is. They told me if I could
keep it warm you could put it on again." The mis-
sionary took the bundle over to the window, opened
it, and found a man's hand severed at the wrist. " The
hand is dead and can never be put on," the Christian
doctor said. The deluded man seemed heart-broken.

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MODERN SOLOMONS 57

and in a pathetic voice repeated, " They told me if I
could keep it warm you could put it on again/' When
asked how he had lost his hand he replied, " I was
travelling with some silver when a band of robbers
attacked me. I defended myself and killed three of
them/' He professed to be a hunter and to live by
his gtm, and he spoke the truth, for he was without
doubt a robber. Galium found out that, in a vain
attempt to carry off the daughter of a Thibetan chief,
he had lost his hand in a free fight with the girl's
relatives. The ministrations of the kind physician
won the fierce fellow's heart, and afterwards when he
recovered minus his hand, he would often bring phea-
sants and other game to his benefactor as a testimonial
of his gratitude. An old chieftain of the country said,
" Thibetans will rob till they are forty, and after that
they will turn the prayer-wheel, and in this way seek
to atone for past misdeeds."

I watched the missionaries on board closely, and
herein report that I did not find any of them drinking
intoxicating liquors, nor did I hear them swear. On
the contrary, I enjoyed their elevating society and
observed their refined manners. Several times on
deck I saw groups of Chinese with a missionary in
their midst who was telling them earnestly the match-
less story of Jesus of Nazareth; and the Chinese
listened eagerly, too.

The Harmony of the River had not only mission-
aries on board, but merchants and Mandarins also.
Officialdom is interesting, like everything else in
China, and these representatives are slick, well-fed,
and dressed in costly apparel. But the average Man-
darin is no fool. Here is a story I heard of how a
judge got even with the Catholics. A native called on
a " Father," and presented himself as a candidate for

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58 CHINESE OFFICIALDOM

church membership. After being properly instructed
and installed as a member, he had some financial diffi-
culty with another man in the same line of business.
The case was brought into Court, upon which a Father
promptly appeared and defended his convert, insisting
that he was a virtuous man, and that the action was
purely a case of persecution. So, out of fear, the case
was dismissed. But the magistrate was not to be out-
witted. Calling the persecutor aside, he said to him,
" You go and join the church also, and bring that
fellow before me for a similar trial, and I will see that
you get your rights." This was done.

It is said that the Empress Dowager had occasion
to decide between two prominent men, neither of
whom she wished to displease, as one had a long purse
and the other a troop of soldiers. The trouble was
about a division of some valuable property. Her
judgment was worthy of Solomon. The men hap-
pened to be brothers, and she decided that the younger
should divide the property into two parts and the
elder should take first choice.

About forty li from the capital of Szechuen, a man
slew his wife and nephew and cut off both their heads.
Carrying these before the magistrate, he affirmed that
the two had been guilty of adultery. To test the truth
of the statement, the magistrate ordered a large firkin
of water to be placed before him, and put in the two
bloody heads. " If they turn face to face, it proves
them guilty," said he, " but if they turn back to back
they are innocent" The heads turned back to back
and the man was seized, chained, and flung into a
loathsome prison there to await the just reward for
his crime. Perhaps the most sweeping condemnation,
if unconsciously so, of Celestial officialdom, is the
verdict of a missionary critic of Chinese characteristics,

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ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION, ICHANG.

TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS. ICHANG.

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I

MANDARIN CHANG CHUIN TENG OF SZECHUEN PROVINCE.
SIX "HEROES" AM) A DRUM.

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BLUE GOWNS 59

who says, " Although Mandarinism is about as cor-
rupt an institution as can be, various individual Man-
darins are respectable and highly respected men/'

After leaving Mother-in-law our next port of call
was Shasi. It has been said that the tenth riot in the
Yangtze valley took place here. The attention of
every traveller is directed to a dyke twenty-five feet
high, and protecting the back country which is some-
what below the present winter level of the river. A
part of the dyke is built in three tiers, one above the
other, each about ten feet high. When the riot occur-
red four years ago, the Consulates and steamship
offices were destroyed, but strange to say, the mission-
aries were not molested. Here at Shasi, the whole
crowd, gathered on the stone passenger-stairs to meet
the boat, were dressed in blue gowns; no such azure
display had I witnessed before in China.

Shasi has one interesting convert. Mr. Stone is
a Chinese mason of considerable influence and educa-
tion, who lives at Chin Hsien, " The Golden County."
One day, while walking along the streets of his native
city, he saw a scavenger picking up scraps of paper,
in this way "rescuing" the much-revered Chinese
characters from the mud of the street. The man,
holding a book in his hand, came running to Mr. Stone
and said, " Please, kind sir, read this for me, as I can-
not do it myself." Mr. Stone glanced at the cover and
saw that it was a Christian tract. "Ah," he said,
" this is a good book and tells about the Old Testament
and New Testament, and the Holy Scriptures. Let
me have it." He took the book home, read it care-
fully, and decided that he must know more of this new
doctrine. So he made enquiries and learned that there
were foreigners in Shasi who preached this new doc-
trine. Then he went to Shasi, five miles away, and

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6o A SCRIMMAGE ON BOARD

asked the Swedish missionaries there for "the Old
and New Testaments, and the Holy Scriptures." They
tried to explain to him that the two Testaments were
the Holy Scriptures, but for some time he thought they
were trying to keep back the best for themselves.
But he was soon convinced and converted. Last
Spring he was baptized and is now engaged as a book-
seller and evangelist, although he is an old man.

A Censor here, over seventy years of age, holding a
high literary degree, has professed conversion to
Christianity. Being tolerably well versed in modem
learning, he is able to remove the doubts of his
numerous Confucian friends.

Shasi has a population of eighty thousand, and is
reported to be a bad place. Some say it is one of the
worst places in China, but I am always doubtful of
such statements. So far as I could see, there is no
more concentrated badness in Shasi than in any other
city in China of equal population. It may possibly
have improved of late.

We left Shasi shortly after noon. Nothing hap-
pened to disturb our tranquility until the evening,
when there was mild excitement. One of the native
passengers had gone to the cook for hot water and
insisted on having it, although there was none. The
pantry boy got mad, jumped the offender, and seized
his pigtail with the usual result. The two made plenty
of noise. A missionary managed to separate the com-
batants, and the opportune arrival of the ship's second
officer in his pyjamas with a big slit in the back, caused
the riot to adjourn.

The next morning a good start was made, but, un-
fortunately, it did not last. A fog came down over
the river, and we had to drop anchor again. But we
were getting higher up and the landscape was chang-

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CHRISTMAS EVE 6i

ing. The monotony of the plains was relieved by the
more picturesque scenery of the hills. The country
was beautifully undulating. This was doubly wel-
come, after the continuous river flats. It was forty
miles below Ichang that the mountains first came into
view, a beautiful and grateful sight. I was heartily
glad to be done with the monotonous plains and al-
luvial flats of the Lower Yangtze. At high noon we
steamed past Peh Yang, where are large limestone
quarries and kilns. Here a picture of great beauty
greeted the sight. First a handsome Taoist temple in
a charming situation, with lofty mountains in the dis-
tance and a light-coloured pagoda perched solitary on
the top of a high hill with other pagodas to the south-
ward. In the half-hour here several pagodas were
visible, more than I had yet seen on the Yangtze. At
Possum Point, where two white goats were feeding on
the grass, we sent out the steam launch to look for
rocks. This active craft plied about, dropping long
bamboo poles with a stone on the large end, to indicate
a safe channel. The launch also waved a black flag
when deep water was found. Two hours later we en-
tered Tiger Teeth Gorge. The two promontories have
each a temple to reflate the spirits passing through
this exquisite bit of landscape.

The fog having lifted, we made a good run to
Ichang, and arrived at five p.m. Numerous native
boats were in harbour. The high river embankment
was crowned with foreign houses. A Chinese gunboat
promptly came alongside, and a Mandarin, deputed to
meet me, came aboard. Unfortunately, I had already
gone ashore to make arrangements for continuing my
joamey up the river, and thus missed seeing him. I
met a soldier, however, who told me of the Mandarin's
visit, and said the gunboat and Red Life Boat would

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62 FIGHTING THE DEMONS

be waiting on me at the ship's side at six o'clock next
morning. This was a rare opportunity and I em-
braced it. An American traveller would be the first to
make this trip on a Chinese gunboat ! I acknowledged
the courtesy and enjoyed the novelty. This was
Christmas Eve. At the residence of William Deans,
of the Scotch Mission, I met several foreigners, among
whom were Dr. Stooke, the missionary surgeon who
has done much to win the confidence of the commimity
both foreign and native, and two ladies from New
Zealand. Here I spent a pleasant evening. Row, of
the Inland Mission, invited me to supper with Broom-
hall and Evans, who were on their way to the West.
Hung up in the room was the salutation, "Happy
New Year," done on red cloth with white cotton and
fringed with living green.

On Christmas Day, some half-dozen generals and
civil Mandarins sent their cards, with requests that I
would appoint an hour when they might call on me,
but as I was soon to leave for up-river, I could not
grant them an interview. At eleven a.m. I attended
service at the Chinese Presbyterian Church. The place
was crowded to its full capacity, and many stood out-
side. Over four hundred were present, most of whom
were Christians. This Scotch Mission has been a
great success in Ichang. The Belgian R. C. Fathers
have a large and well-constructed set of buildings in a
commanding situation. In approaching the city from
the south, these houses first attract attention. The
Pyramid Mountain on the opposite shore, whence the
evil spirits, to satisfy an ancient grudge, are said to
jump across the river that they may injure the city
and its trade, presents an imposing appearance. In
order to counteract the baleful influence of these
spirits, the rich merchants and officials subscribe a

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A QUICKLY-MADE CEMETERY 63

liberal amount of money to construct a three-storied
temple on the East Hill. This temple faces the pyra-
mid» and heads off the demons when they spring, and
tosses them back into the water.

Ichang means " Deserving Prosperity." It contains
thirty thousand souls. The floating population is es-
timated at two thousand. Formerly all business cen-
tred at the North Gate, but since the place was opened
as a port, it has shifted to the South Gate. Trade
seemed bad, however, and many native banks were
closing their doors. One banker called that morning
to see if I had any business to transact. A friend of
mine asked him if ^is bank was steady. He replied,
" Keep your heart in its place."

While taking a walk, I passed by a piece of ground
adjoining the Imperial Maritime Customs, and now
used temporarily as a Chinese cemetery. The Customs
authorities have vainly attempted to buy this land, as
the owners were very unwilling to part with it In
order to avoid being forced to sell, they devised a
scheme worthy of the long-headed John. Near by is
a temple in which are deposited a few coffins that have
not yet been sent to the ancestral burial-places. It is
contrary to law to sell graveyards in China, so the wily
land-owners conceived the plan of removing these
coffins to the coveted land, and in this way making
a graveyard. They hurriedly started to dig graves
and filled them with coffins borrowed from the temple
— ^most of them empty, as the supply gave out. The
bodies were not fresh.

Soon after the noon meal the money-changer turned
up with the silver to be used en route. For the rest of
my journey only lump silver and " cash " could be
used. There were eighteen nuggets, each worth ten
tads. I tock eight of them, my secretary and the in^

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64 YANGTZE HOUSE-BOATS

terpreter five each. We also had about ten thousand
cash on long strings — ^heavy, cumberscwne things.
Nobody but people who have more time than money
would be bothered with such stuff.

Just at this time, the Chentai of Deserving Pros-
perity sent his card and a Christmas greeting because
he knew " it was a great day for foreigners." The
Mandarin who is to accompany me asked for an inter-
* view to conclude our business arrangements. I ap-
pointed one P.M., and he arrived on the minute.

When the boy appeared with beef, mutton, pork,
potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, and a large
supply of charcoal, twice too much at least for con-
sumption (Ml the way, we descended the steep stone
stairs from the Bund of Ichang to the Red Boat, which
had orders to accompany me all the way. It was
three-thirty p.m., and we at once cast off and moved
away, passing many tall junks, with the high cabin
over the stem. The bamboo sail was hoisted and we
skimmed along with a fair breeze past the Custom's
pontoon, around which are grouped numerous junks
loaded with hides and other dutiable goods; on
through long rows of boats of all shapes and condi-
tions not antagonistic to the fashion set by the an-
cestors of the modern ship-builders. Still, there were
a few modernized native craft, but the owners " save
their face" by saying that Western nations have
adopted models that Chinese have forgotten, and by
imitating foreigners the Chinese are, after all, only re-
verting to the Chinese past. Fas est ab haste doceri.
The British gunboat in harbour was decorated for
Christmas, but her German cousin, the man-of-war
just across the way, was not. I noticed a large new
Japanese warehouse, or godown, as it is called in
China, in course of construction. I should have omitted

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A LOST FLAG 65

noting this fact if the building had belonged to any
foreigner other than Japanese. It showed that the Japs
are wide awake in this part of the world. Monster junk
rudders, oiled and put out to dry, stood on the beach.
These rudders were worth a little scrutiny. We passed
many up- Yangtze house-boats. Some have three rooms,
others more. One I especially noticed was luxuriously
fitted up. The prices for the trip to Chungking vary
from one hundred and twenty ounces of silver to sev-
eral hundreds. But I was very fortunate in being the
first foreign traveller to go up on a native war vessel.

At four P.M. the Red Boat reached the gunboat, and
was received by a salute of three guns. I found the
Mandarin there, dressed in his best silk, and the com-
mander of the gunboat all ready to receive and escort
me on the up-river journey. Their welcome was cordial.

The Mandarin, whose name was Qien the Power-
ful, carried orders to deliver me safely. He wore beau-
tiful zephyr-worked ear-warmers, edged with fine fur,
and had so much baggage that we sent soldiers to
get another Red Boat. We did not, however, need
this, as we succeeded in arranging the luggage in such
a way as to lighten both craft. By this time it was
too late to " put to sea." The gimboat and the Red
Boat had hauled up to the steamer's side at seven in
the morning, but we were delayed in getting oflf by
dilatory foreigners, the intricacies of Chinese Bank
Exchange, and the necessity for lump silver. All
honour to the Chinese officials for their arrangements
for my comfort! Prompt, polite, and patient have
they proved themselves thus far!

It was nightfall, but all things were ready, and we
expected to be oflf early in the morning. I was feeling
quite comfortable and happy, and leisurely and com-
placently lodced about for my American flag, which

E

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66 OLD MOON

I always carry with me. I went through all my easily-
get-at-able bags, but it did not turn up. I felt some-
thing get big in the region of my heart, and became
quite anxious, as I overhauled the heavier boxes, look-
ing eagerly, then desperately, for the emblem of free-
dom and bravery. But I could not find it an3rwhere!
Then I sat down to think. Yes, it had gone round by
the sea to Rangoon with my other baggage. Here was
a pretty kettle of fish! I could not and would not
travel without the Stars and Stripes. Have a flag I
must by hook or by crook. Calling one of the sol-
diers, I despatched him with a note to an American in
the place, in which I begged for the bunting. He
soon came back for a lantern, as he could not dis-
tinguish an American house in the dark. The fact
was that his way to my friend's house led by the grave-
yard, and unlike Tam O'Shanter, he was unwilling to
risk his precious hide with the spooks, spirits and gob-
lins. But he got the light, and brought back word that
there was a flag five by eight inches in the port, prob-
ably not available. Despite this cheerless prospect, I
determined not to be outdone. Accompanied by an
English interpreter and the Chinese soldier, we re-
paired to the cloth shop of one " Old Moon " by name.
Old Moon was plump, and smoked a pipe a yard long.
We firmly, but politely, pushed open the closed door
and discovered eight men counting filthy lucre in the
shape of cash placed in trays, being, I suppose, the
proceeds of the day's sales. Even though I was in
hot haste, I could not help admiring the method of
assortment. The big specie were placed by themselves
to be put in the middle of the "string" when this
"legal tender" was made up. The little ones were
used to taper off the string and make up the one thou-
sand which, to an American, is an hypothecated

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THE NIGHT WATCHMAN 67

value. It looked quite symmetrical when finished with
the big in the middle and the little at the ends.

Well, Old Moon at first refused even to sell the
cloth. It was past business hours and too late, but
after some persuasion, he sold me three Chinese feet
each of red and white cloth and a square of blue, and a
spool of cotton. Old Moon demanded five hundred
and thirty-two cash for the cloth and one hundred cash
for the thread. And these materials were to constitute
a flag of the American Republic destined to play an
important part in a great journey across China! I
handed the shopkeeper a Mexican dollar worth eight
hundred and twenty cash in ' Deserving Prosperity *
and, just for fun, took up one of his already strung
one thousand cash and pulled off two hundred. He
smiled and nodded assent. So I appeared to have
bought the stuff for six hundred and twenty cash.
But money in China is very crazy.

I had intended to play tailor and make the flag my-
self, even if it delayed us. But Old Moon got his
curiosity aroused. " Was I the new Consul General ? "
" How old was I ? " Some said I was in my teens ;
others guessed I was in my twenties, and all smiled
great Celestial smiles. Then I asked Old Moon to find
me a tailor who would be willing to work that night
and make a flag under my direction. It was already
eight o'clock, but Old Moon gave me an affirmative
sign, and disappeared down the dark narrow street.
He soon returned, bringing the kind of workman of
which the proverb saith it takes nine to make a man,
but he became so scared at the prospect (probably of
myself) that he declined the job. A second attempt
on the part of Old Moon was more successful.
" Soimd Faith " was secured, and he called three
others. This quartette worked hard for more than

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68 RECOLLECTIONS OF HOME

two hours. As it was too late to put all the stars in
the comer, I told him thirteen would be enough. He
gave me good measure, and put in fourteen. As this
would knock out the original intent and might be con-
strued as showing preference, I ordered him to remove
one. While I was waiting in the cold room, the night
watchman passed by, beating his drum. He does this
to warn all thieves and murderers to flee, and let the
town know that he is awake and on duty. The watch-
man beats his drum five times every night at intervals ;
one stroke for the first watch, two for the second, and
so on. Then somebody passed jingling bells which
soimded just like the sleigh bells I have heard on
Christmas night at my home in Pennsylvania, far, far
away. Ah, home! And the contrast with such a
place as this ! I thought of home so emphatically that
it actually hurt. Suddenly the notes of a familiar
Christmas hymn sung to Chinese words fell upon my
ear. On enquiry I found that the landlord, who lived
near by, a man of independent means, was having
family worship; and I thanked God that even in these
wretched Chinese cities the Light of the World is be-
ginning to shine.

The flag was finished. It cost twenty-five cents
gold. Bidding the workmen good-bye, we started off
to the gunboat. We met the watchman, who was
striking three. Eleven o'clock! We found the big
city gates closed, but at the word of the warrior es-
corting the Great American, they were flung open, and
we passed out.

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IS :»^ A ^ ji

Much courtesy forestalls offence.
CHAPTER V.

THROUGH THE GREAT YANGTZE GORGES — ^ICHANG

TO THE Wnj) RAPIDS — ^IN A CHINESE GUNBOAT

THE RED HEIFER — ^RIVER DISASTERS — ^THE
SACRED EDICT — SALUTING THE AMERICAN FLAG.

T was a young and beautiful morning
with a cloudless sky, this beginning
of the twenty-seventh Sun of the .
eleventh Moon of the Old Tiger,
It was less than a quarter after
six, and the striped canvas of the
native gunboat had been . noise-
Soldier Boat. jessly struck and everything made
snug and smart in ten minutes' time. The man
in the prow was getting the black cannon ready, and
the sun was rising back of (bang went the cannon!)
the city. The echo as it rolled over the river and up
the opposite mountain side was reinforced by a second
and then a third shot. Thus my " honourable coun-
try " and myself were honoured. The bamboo moor-
ing line was quickly slipped, and in a jiffy we were
well out into the stream. The Red Life Boat was
quite as spry, and thus early was begun the memorable
journey of a Yankee in a Chinese gunboat. As we
passed the junks and smaller craft, a sampan shot out

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70 A CHINESE GUNBOAT

to us and hauled alongside, and from her deck disap-
peared beautiful green and white vegetables which pres-
ently reappeared on our prow. The Pyramid was sharp-
ly silhouetted against the Eastern sky, and we imagined
ghostly shapes leaping for the further shore and being
hurled back by the guardian deity of fair Ichang.

The gunboat in which I sailed was a one-masted,
square-prowed, high-stemed craft about forty feet
from end to end, and not above nine feet beam. The
mast had only one single shroud on the port side, the
other side being more or less supported by the halyard.
The solitary mast was forty feet high and stood in a
socket, a mechanism by which it could be easily low-
ered. The top of the mast was a red wooden spear-
head supplemented by three little flags on the port side.
The gaff was fifteen feet long, made of a short piece
of wood, and the boom was of stout bamboo twenty
feet long. In between these, arranged at regular inter-
vals, were fourteen bamboos without the support of
which the clumsy sail could be blown to rags, as it was
made of the thinnest calico. The main sheet was at-
tached by a fan-like arrangement to the ends of these
eight bamboos, the entire number of which were
brought home to a block at the rudder post, so that the
sail was worked with the greatest facility. The gen-
eral shape of the sail may be described as a leg-o'-
mutton sail and a mixture between a lug and a lateen.
This kind of a sail is extremely handy on account of
its lightness, and the fact that it reefs itself as it is run
down. She carried the long fish-blade car with a
T-topped handle strung with a leather thong. There
were ten oarsmen, six abaft the mast and four for-
ward. The part some four feet forward of the mast
was occupied by the cook's galley, a most economical
contrivance which consisted of a stove burning coal

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spr-^

KWAN TU K'ON, LOW KR ENTRANCK OF THK \VU SHAN GOR(,K.

CARGO BOAT GOING VP THK IFvT'AN RAIMIX

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AN ODDLY-NAMED CREW 71

cakes, the fire of which is never let out day or night,
and gave no smoke. She sat like a Delaware duck on
the water, and, with a fair wind, was not likely to be
out-sailed by any boat on the river. On the whole, she
was as trim and natty a little vessel as one could wish
to find even in waters outside of China. She boasted
of one cannon forward, which was supposed to carry
a mile, and a stack of rifles by the captain's cabin.
There were also huge horse pistols for the crew, and
scMne other firing irons. The official designation of
this clean, trim war vessel was " Gunboat No. 7 of the
Advance Squadron of the Ichang District."

The skipper was an interesting Chinaman. After
some effort I got him to talk, and elicited the following
facts. He was forty-two years of age, and went to
sea at sixteen. Most of the time he had been in the
coast Provinces, but his home was in Hunan, and now
he lived temporarily in Ichang. He went out after a
band of robbers in the fourth Moon, and spent two
Moons following them up to catch them. As soon as
they heard he was on their track, they turned into good
people and offered no resistance when captured ! The
skipper gave up his cabin over the stem to me, and
slept down in the hold where the tiller-man was ac-
customed to night it. The fine old steersman took to
the right of my cabin door. The crew was composed
of twelve men all told, including the cook, so that,
with the captain, we had the so-called unlucky number
of thirteen. They were all nice, prompt, and intelli-
gent-looking fellows. Translated into English, there
were some odd names among them. The captain was
Mr. Long Bow; the coxswain, " An-Official-Bound
for-Glory." " The-Evcr-Victorious-Colour," " Special-
Promise,'' " Red-Cinnamon-Grove," " Little-Profit,"
"Great-Treasure-of-a-Drum," "Graceful-Rest," "Kce-

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y2 A CHINESE SUPERSTITION

per-of-Truce," and " Crabtree-who-takes-hold-of-Be-
nevolence" made up, with the others, a fine lot of
young Chinamen.

The Red Life Boat, like the gunboat, carried a mast
as tall as she was long, and a monster stem sweep as
long as either. She belonged to the Life-Saving
Service, and was painted red. Boats of this kind are
stationed at every considerable rapid to watch for ac-
cidents, which are constantly ciccurring. Number
twelve had rescued more than one hundred persons
and carried a stalwart crew of six young men, who
were experts at the oars. She had a small oblong sail,
and usually kept well up with the gunboat. Each man
of the crew received about three taels, or two dollars
gold, a month, and foimd his own rice. ^ I have not
learned the number of these very useful little craft on
the river, but a popular report of the Yangtze Life-
Saving Service would be as interesting as the reports
of the life-saving stations along our lengthy American
sea coast. On board the Red Boat was the Civil Man-
darin, who had the Viceroy's orders to attend me. He
had further orders to assist the gunboat in case of
accident along the route, and especially at the Rapids.
The boats sailed slowly under a light wind, and in
three, hours Ichang was lost to my view for ever.

Among the necessary preliminaries to starting on a
boat of this kind, the Chinese usually kill a cock and
smear the blood and feathers on the bow of the boat.
Rice is also thrown over the entire boat as she puts out
from the shore. In addition to these performances,
a liberal supply of fire crackers are let off to show the
River God that he is not forgotten. But as a foreign
guest was on board the gunboat, I was spared the
penance of witnessing this display of the superstitions
in which the natives live, move, and have their being.

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THE ICHANG GORGE 73

Instead of this, the cannon saluted and shook the
vessel from stem to stern. The cook cut his hand se-
verely with a clumsy axe, while trying to cut some
bamboo rope into lengths to be used for torches. He
straightway smeared his fingers with his own blood
and began to write charms on the deck. This is a fine
art not revealed to many. Presently he rubbed some
powdered medicine over the wound instead of cleans-
ing it. On my enquiring what the wonderful concoc-
tion was, he replied, " Pulverized Dragon Bones."

By noon we were at the entrance of the Ichang
Gorge. Here were perpendicular cliffs eight hundred
feet high. Along their base men were hard at work
quarrying bluestone for the Ichang Embankment. It
locked as if we were sailing through a chain of moun-
tain lakes. Little can one imagine the grand and sub-
lime scenery in China who limits his travel to the
Yellow coast But let him go a thousand miles up the
Yangtze, and venture further up through the rapids
between Ichang and Wan Hsien, and then the truth
will dawn upcwi him that in all this world there is no
finer scenery anywhere. Here were the most colossal
cliflfs and palisades I had ever seen since leaving the
wonderland of New Zealand. Along the siunmit on
those crags an eagle soared to its lofty eyrie. The whole
scene was weirdly romantic. The first section of the
Ichang Gorge bears the highly poetical name of " Moon-
shine," and the second is called the " Yellow Cat."

Soon after two in the afternoon, we had passed
through the Ichang Gorge and were in the granite
country. At this stage I got into conversation with
Mr. Yun. I asked him to tell me about the great flood
which devastated this valley, and carried away multi-
tudes of people. He said, " Though I saw it with my
own eyes, and though it was very terrible, it happened

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74 THE RED HEIFER

so long ago that I hav^ forgotten all about it" The
poor fellow was evidmtly afraid I was trying to en-
trap him into admitting some neglect of duty then, and
believed with Horace, Percunctatorem fugito nam
garrulus idem est The skipper came to the rescue
and related how, once upon a time, the water became
dammed up and could not get away. To relieve the
overflow the idol, Kang Yeh, met a red heifer and
asker her to tell him where they could find an outlet
for the water. She assented, and he grabbed the cow
by the tail and she led him to the place. Later returns
indicate that the heifer was afterwards carried up to
heaven, and the small fry gods built a temple on earth
for her worship. For we were shown the spot where
is located the Red Cow Temple. Tradition says that
the moment the idol and the cow entered the valley,
the water rushed through and formed a new channd.
All sorts of other wonderful tales are told

"Of moving accidents by flood and field"
in this region. In the summer months the river
usually rises over fifty feet.

Twenty miles of rope and fifty thousand miles of
lampwick. This seems at first an exaggerated state-
ment, but a cargo representing so many miles can be
carried by a few boats on the Yangtze. The rope is
made of bamboo, and is stronger and lighter than
that used in other countries. The tow-lines used by
all the craft on the Upper Yangtze are made of
bamboo. At one rope emporium there was on hand
over twenty miles of line. Miles more were being
soaked in lime. As to the lampwicks, I estimated that
on three boats lashed together, there were enough, if
laid out in a single line, to twice girdle the earth at the
Equator. These boats take thirty days to descend the
river from Chungking. So easily is the voyage affected

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THE OFFENCE OF THE CROSS 75

by the wind that extreme care is necessary to avoid
losing the cargo.

When we had got within a short distance of the first
great rapids, we lay to and stood alongside another
gunboat. As my interpreter was stepping from one
vessel to the other, a boatman, who wanted to help,
saluted him as " My Lord Chang." Our little Man-
darin whispered, " There is only one lord, that is My
Lord Geil." Ready with " the soft phrase of peace,"
the boatman corrected himself, and said, " Mr. Chang,"
but when I passed over, there was much ado and
saluting, and I was " My Lord Geil." In New Guinea
they called me " The Big White Chief," but now I was
" My Lord Geil." Whether I shall be able to recog-
nise my humble friends when I reach home remaineth
to be seen. When I returned to my cabin, I found
a Chinese ten-cash coin which someone had dropped.
The character ^, meaning ten, is very prominently
stamped on the ordinary piece. I learned something
new about the Offence of the Cross. The cross is, for
obvious reasons, inseparably connected in the Chinese
mind with missionaries, and is consequently despised
by all Boxers. A short time before the Boxer out-
break in nineteen htmdred, some leading spirits
urgently petitioned the Government to change this
hateful character. The Government acquiesced, and
a special cash of the same value was struck off, but the
character ten did not appear in the usual way, but in a
complicated form in which the cross was entirely ob-
literated. The coin I picked up was one of these, and
represents the Offence of the Cross.

From Ichang there is one regular succession of beau-
tiful pictures, grand vistas, and magnificent mountain
scenery. No artist has ever succeeded in reproducing
on canvas the colours of a sunset, and no words can

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76 RIVER DISASTERS

describe the grandeur of the scenes along the Yangtze
gorges and rapids. At one point the perpendicular
cliffs rise up from the water's edge and form a solid
wall two thousand feet high. At another, these cliflFs
reach the sky-line at four thousand feet. There are
greater cliffs and higher mountains on the earth, but
these are not set off with such gorgeous views. The
ensemble is perfect, and I was fascinated with the sight.
A little element of danger lent additional charm as our
boats swept through wild rapids with the whirl and
swirl of the torrent threatening to engulf us every
moment. And the attraction was further enhanced
when we entered a gloomy and uncanny looking open-
ing in the mountains, and saw the temples which the
heathen, under the whip of a guilty conscience, had
erected to protect from devils bent on mischief the
mortal who dared to enter these dark abodes.

At the entrance of the Tungling Rapid is a rock, by
which lies hidden the sunken hulk of a German
steamer. Within twenty minutes of the time she
struck, she had entirely disappeared underneath that
torrent of dark water. Thirty missionaries were on
board, and only one foreigner, the captain, was
drowned. There were many Chinese lost. Among
them was the son of a Mandarin on his way to the
Examinations at Wan Hsien, his native city. After
the steamer struck the rock, a servant helped this young
man to clamber on to a Red Life Boat that had come to
the assistance of the ill-fated ship. But not recognis-
ing the immediate danger, he foolishly returned to his
cabin on the steamer to save some valuables from his
boxes. Before he could secure these, the vessel went
down, and both the valuables and himself were en-
coffined and buried in a watery grave. Another of the
victims was a Chinese gentleman who had been in busi-

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OS

<

O

'72

o

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RUnOHIST NUNS XRAR THE SIIIX TAX. £.V ROVTE TO WAX.

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THE AUTHOR AT WORK yj

ness in Shanghai, and had accumulated a considerable
fortune. He was on his way home, and, while at
Ichang, found this large foreign vessel going up.
"This is the thing for me," he said; "I'll take it."
So, putting all his treasures on board, he secured pas-
sage — ^and went down with the rest. During the long
years of China's history, how many souls have been
lost in these rushing waters ! /

In my diary I notice this remarkable incident re-
corded — The cook washed his hands this morning.
Why should he do this? Are not his hands cleansed
sufficiently from their various accumulations by mix-
ing bread, preparing rice, and other things requiring
direct manipulation ?

Of my own usual daily occupation my kind secre-
tary, Mr. Douglas McLean, has written the following
description which is here inserted : — " As soon as the
first sign of daylight appears, Mr. Geil, clad in an
enormous sheepskin overcoat (dark blue lining out-
side) and wearing a soft brown felt hat such as would
have delighted the heart of the world-famed " Dead-
wood Dick," takes his stand outside the cabin door,
and describes the scenery as it unfolds itself to his
admiring gaze. His visible wardrobe is completed by
tan boots and a heavy grey sweater, and those who
have seen him in the immaculate shirt front and fault-
less frock coat of the public platform would be amused,
could they meet him in this rough and ready garb. I
say his gaze, because the door of the cabin is blocked
by the aforesaid overcoat, and as there are no windows
in front of me, I can see very little. The windows (?)
are in the sides of the cabin a little to my rear, and are
made of wood hung from the top edge, and propped
out by a piece of small bamboo, so that only the water
of the river is visible.

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78 THE WHITE BONES PAGODA

" Whenever anything noteworthy strikes his atten-
tion, he dictates a description, which I take down im-
mediately on the typewriter, and thus the panorama is
recorded as it passes. Nothing of interest escapes his
critical eye, so that the click of the machine, though not
so constant as the tick of the clock, makes a good sub-
stitute for the softer sound of the absent horologe.

" The rearward view is obtained by standing on the
ample rudder-post which projects a foot from the
deck ; and this foot, added to Mr. Geil's seven feet less
nine inches, after deducting nearly six feet for the
height of the arched roof of the cabin, leaves a sub-
stantial credit balance in the right position for observ-
ing scenery. When an exceptionally fine view is
behind us, Mr. Geil stands on a Chinese basket trunk
about two feet high, and holds forth from that exalted
station. This goes on from dawn till dark, and as the
cabin is not well lighted, the early and late descriptions
are written by the aid of a candle at both ends."

When at last we had reached the entrance of the
Chintan Rapids my Mandarin, Chen the Powerful,
objected to my staying in the boat while she passed
through the swirling waters, as the danger was too
great ; so I decided to go on shore and take some pho-
tographs. The kind little Mandarin was very solici-
tous for my safety, and, mostly to oblige him, I got
on shore and walked. On the way I took a photograph
of a three-storied tower named "The White Bones
Pagoda." The soldier who accompanied me said it
was built for orphan souls, that is, for those drowned
in the turbulent Chintan Rapids, and who have no
earthly friends to furnish them with spiritual necessi-
ties. At the side of the pagoda was the solitary grave
of a poor fellow who was killed while trying to shoot
the rapids. His body will remain there imtil some

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DE MORTUIS NIL NISI VERUM 79

kind person provides the money to pay for its removal
to the ancestral home.

While passing along the village, perched high upon
a narrow ledge of rock, I stopped at a house where
funeral services were being held. In front of the house,
which was open, and in the narrow street, stood a
paper pagoda altar. Near this, on a round block, a
goat's head with blood scattered about it was placed.
Incense and a small candle (stuck in a half-turnip, for
lack of a better stand) were lighted. On the opposite
side of the paper altar was a pig's head and some
tawdry hangings. Relations of the deceased, consist-
ing of men, women and children, all with their heads
bound with white turbans, stood rather cheerfully, I
thought, about the curved-topped coffin. The smallest
mourner was a tiny baby dressed in funeral apparel of
white, for this is the Chinese mourning colour. We
stepped into a tea shop and had a conversation with an
old Taoist priest, who was connected with the proceed-
ings, and who carried a long string of cash across his
left shoulder. He said the deceased was seventy-one
years old, and that a sacrifice was made to atone for
his many sins. This sitting on a man's sins, after he is
dead, was refreshing ; I mean the bold truthfulness of
it. In enlightened countries the funeral is often the
occasion to invent and perpetuate the most barefaced
falsehoods. The old sinner, when dead, is talked
about as though he were the choicest saint in heaven.
These Taoists have some virtues. They suggest in
their ritual for the dead the ancient Egyptian method
of dealing with defunct scamps. The proverb would
then read, " De mortuis nil nisi verum/'

In this part of China they have three different kinds
of offerings at funerals — a pig's head, a goat's head, or a
fowl. These are to help the dead through his migrations.

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8o THE SACRED EDICT

If the family of the deceased is rich, sacrifices will be
offered for him, but if not, he must shift for himself.

I took a photograph of a particularly striking bit of
architecture in a narrow street at the comer of a still
narrower lane. It proved to be the ancestral hall of
Mr. Tu.

I stopped again to enquire about a tablet which
stood in a small, bureau-like case by the side of the
street. Some placards like proclamations were pasted
up close by. Here was a station for preaching the
Sacred Edict. As the Sacred Edict has figured so
largely in the life of the Chinese people for tliree hun-
dred years, a short explanation of it here by a cele-
brated missionary will not be out of place. He says:
" The sixteen maxims, which form the ground work
of this book, were delivered, in an edict, by the
Emperor Kang-he, the second of the present dynasty,
in the latter part of his life; the same Emperor by
whose authority the Chinese Imperial Dictionary was
compiled.

" These maxims, each of which, in the original, con-
tains seven characters, or words, were neatly written
out on small slips of wood, and placed in the public
offices, where they are to be seen at the present day.

" The Emperor Yung-Ching, the son and successor
of Kang-he, wisely considering that the conciseness
of these maxims would necessarily prevent their gen-
eral utility, wrote an Amplification of them, which he
published in the second year of his reign ; and ordered
it to be read publicly to the peopk, on the first and
fifteenth of each month." . ..." At present the
law is read, or should be read, twice a month, namely,
on the first and fifteenth. The manner of it is as fol-
lows. Early on the first and fifteenth of every Moon,
the civil and military officers, dressed in their imiform,

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THE SACRBD EDICT.

ft A S £1 )B « «

Pay due regard to filial and fraternal duties in order to em-
phasize social relations.

K H R £1 «| ^ «

Respect kindred in order to display the excellence of harmony.

ft # A £1 ft » fb

Pacify the local communities in order to put an end to litigation.

^ ti & & m m m.

Magnify fanning and mulberry culture that there may be suf-
ficient food and clothing.

V ± fi £1 tft «. R

Value economy in order to prevent the waste of wealth.

m ft 9 £1 ik m n

Magnify academic learning in order to direct the scholar's habit

« JE « £( « II a

Extirpate heresy and thus exalt orthodoxy.

SI A « £1 <» £1 «

Explain the laws in order to warn the foolish and wayward.

IB m m & m m m

Exhibit courtesy and complaisance in order to improve
manners.

S R 9& £( « « H

Let each man abide in his calling in order to settle the popular
wiU.

ft 1^ fll £( » 7 11

Instruct the youth and thus prevent evil doing.

S 1 S £( « ff A

Suppress false accusations in order to shield the good.

tt « « £( A B II

Prohibit givinff shelter to deserters in order to prevent the
implication of others.

m m ^ & m m fi

Pay taxes in order to avoid persistent duns.

M ft R £1 V ft «

Unite the tithings in order to suppress crime.

ft # S £1 A « «

Make op qnarrds in order to respect the person and life.
F

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82 FILIAL PIETY

meet in a clean, spacious public hall. The superin-
tendent, who is called Lee-Sang, calls aloud, * Stand
forth in files.' They do so, according to their rank;
he then says, * Kneel thrice, and bow the head nine
times.' They kneel and bow to the ground, with their
faces towards a platform, on which is placed a board
with the Emperor's name. He next calls aloud, * Rise
and retire.' They rise, and all go to a hall, or kind
of chapel, where the law is usually read; and where
military and people are assembled, standing round in
silence.

" The Lee-Sang then says, ' Respectfully com-
mence.' The Szekiang-Zang, or orator, advancing
towards an incense altar, kneels, reverently takes up
the board on which the maxim appointed for the day is
written, and ascends a stage with it An old man re-
ceives the board, and puts it down on the stage, fronting
the people. Then, commanding silence with a wooden
rattle which he carries in his hand, he kneels, and reads
it. When he has finished, Lee-Sang calls out, * Ex-
plain such a section, or maxim, of the sacred edict'
The orator stands up, and gives the sense. In reading
and expounding other parts of the law, the same forms
are also observed."

But the practice of reading the Maxims by the Man-
darins has relapsed into " innocuous desuetude." It
is read now by individuals only who wish to obtain
merit by "exhorting the people." However, "the
public " in China, like every other public, do not relish
exhortation. Ad captandum vulgus, the Maxims must
be relieved by some diversion. The attraction con-
sists of story-telling, for which the plebs is willing
to pay the penance of listening to a maxim or two.
The Sacred Edict contains good moral and practical
advice. While many disregard its teachings, there are

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MR. SIlC, MisoR Official near Wan.

xxvii

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>
<

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INSTANCE OF CELESTIAL REASONING 83

no destructive Higher Critics who "monkey" with
the text. No Chinese doubts its authenticity and
authorship.

The expounders of the Edict use many illustrations.
Some of these are very apt, even to an Occidental.
From the twenty-four examples of Filial Piety we se-
lect two: — " A boy served his mother obediently. One
day, while he was away on the hills gathering fire-
wood, some guests unexpectedly arrive at the house.
His mother is much embarrassed, and in her longing
for her son's return bites her finger. On the instant her
absent son feels a twinge of pain, and, divining trouble,
starts for home, arriving in time to help his mother to
properly receive the guests. The native comment is,
* Behold how perfect a medium between mother and
child is filial piety ! ' This is a very ancient example
of telepathy. It is said that this boy was afterwards
Tsen Tzu, the famous disciple of Confucius."

"Another lad's step-mother was always accusing
him to his father of want of filial love, so he determined
to give a heroic proof of his sincerity and virtue. He
resolved to melt her heart by gratifying her palate. In
mid-winter he went to the ice-bound river to fish for
carp; but failing to break a hole, our hero, nothing
daunted, pulled off his garments and proceeded to melt
a hole with the warmth of his naked body. In a
miraculously short time the ice melted, and out leaped
two large carp. These he joyfully carried to his step-
mother, who, on learning the facts, repented of her
evil deeds. A poet has said : ' A thousand ages cannot
efface the remembrance of the crack in the ice, nor
obliterate the fragment traces of so worthy an action.' "

On life-saving the Chinese have curious notions.
While eating cakes cooked in lamp oil in a tea house
in Chintan village, the skipper of the Red Boat came

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84 THE STARS AND STRIPES

in and I asked him certain questions about the pagoda
for destitute souls. He told me that for the recovery
of a dead body from the water, a reward of eight hun-
dred cash is given by the Emperor. It used to be eight
hundred cash for saving a live man and four hundred
for a dead one. But it was soon discovered that this
did not pay, so it was reversed, and now four hundred
cash are given to save a live man and eight hundred to
recover a dead one.. This allows four hundred cash
to bury the man if he dies after being taken out of the
water. This interesting fact was further explained to
me by another of the Red Boat men — ^that the dead
man involves funeral expenses and the live man none I
This is good Celestial reasoning. It would be more
profitable to drown a man before pulling him out. I
found out afterwards that the reward of four hundred
cash is given provided the rescuer gets his clothes wet;
otherwise he gets but two hundred.

Every morning when the American flag was flung
to the breeze over the stem of the gunboat, a salute of
three guns would be fired, and the skipper and his crew,
with myself, would cheer; then the skipper would al-
ways turn round and shake hands with me. The
stripes in the flag were not of the same width, nor were
the proportions right, but from a distance it looked
exactly like the Grand Old Flag of my native country.
I felt proud. I doubted if ever before in the history of
the Empire had a native gunboat passed these gorges
and rapids flying the Stars and Stripes.

We had passed the landscape of triangles, and were
now in sight of the wonderful " Wild Rapids/'

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M m ia :^ m :^

' I heard it " not as good as '^ I saw it**

CHAPTER VI.

THE WEALTH AND INDUSTRIES OF SZECHUEN —

WAN ^A viceroy's OPINION OF OPIUM — ^BOXER

TROUBLES — A MARRIAGE BREAKFAST — FLOODS

AND FIRES CHINESE CREDULITY CHINESE

CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY.

^HE wealthiest and unquestionably
the most important city between
Ichang and Chungking is Wan.
ITie wealth of Szechuen, which has
]jeen more and more evident along
the journey, -here culminates in a
rich and populous centre. The
CMhCaadobrarte.) Great East Road leaving here
passes through the richest part of
China on its course to the capital, Chentu, where
dwells the Viceroy of the Province. " Wan " means
ten thousand, and is the name of both country and city,
but the population of the latter has grown to two hun-
dred thousand. No foreigners, however, live here ex-
cept the missionaries, of whom there are three; but the
city will be an open port next year, and then the saying
that " Missionaries precede the merchant " will be
verified. The houses in the suburbs are straggling,
but not above a tenth of the people live inside the walls.
As I entered the city at night, four small boy b^gars
were sleeping by the gate. The poor little brats had

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86 A PONS ASINORUM

scraped away the ashes from the fires lighted during
the 3ay, and lay curled up on the warm spots where
some heat still remained. And there they slept during
the chilly night. Once inside the city, I started as
straight as possible for the China Inland Mission
House. Here a warm welcome was given me by the
earnest missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Taylor. The
house is new and finely adapted for mission work,
fronting on the busy street with a good view of the city
at the back. It was built by an Australian and con-
tains a guest room for the Chinese, which is open all
the day and in the evenings. Here the Gospel is zeal-
ously and faithfully preached by the hospitable inmates.
The river front is fully two miles long, and is inter-
sected by a small tributary which falls into the Yangtze.
Along the banks of this river runs the principal street.
There is a remarkable arched stone bridge across this
stream about twenty feet wide, which suggests the
Pons Asinorum rather than an illustration of Celestial
astuteness. The architect made no allowance for
freshets, and when the river fis up he must wade.
According to Chinese ideas, this city is most favourably
located. To the north, which is laiown as the region
of darkness, towers the Heaven Made Fortress, which
wards off evil influences; to the South lies the region
of warmth. On the opposite side of the Great River,
a low line of hills forms a suitable site for pagodas to
waft good luck and prosperity to the merchants of
Wan. These two influences, called the Ying and the
Yang, or male and female, are said to be the source of
all things, Ying Yang Sheng Wan Wu. In the native
mind the favourable conjunction of these two elements
accounts for the wealth of Wan.

" And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time,

Sit side by side, full summ'd in all their powers,

Dispensing harvest." — The Princess.

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EDIBLE WOOL SKEINS 87

A huge stone dragon in the middle of the river, who
condescends to show his head only when the water is
low, contributes also to the good luck of the place.
Not only is there extensive local business in the city
itself, but Wan also taps the trade of both Eastern and
Northern Szechuen, which comes into the city by the
Great East Road, and which consists largely of silk
and salt The salt from Nan Pu (a ten days' journey)
is obtained from wells a thousand feet deep. The
Sisyphean task of drilling these wells is done by hand,
and it takes years to complete one well. The brine is
brought to the surface in long, narrow sections of the
bamboo, hundreds of which are fastened together and
let down. Each of these has a valve in the bottom
which lets the water in. When drawn up, the valve
closes and the brine is retained. The hauling up is
done by a windlass worked by men; but where the
well is very deep a perpendicular drum like a huge
capstan, worked by ox power, is put into requisition.
These devices, however primitive and clumsy, are
quaint and interesting. In producing salt, the fuel
used for fires in the evaporating process is the greatest
expense.

Edible wool skeins are an important product that
has figured largely in my commissariat since leaving
for Chungking. It is called Mien in Qiinese, and con-
sists of dough strings rolled out most cleverly into
strips which look like a skein of unwashed wool. By
means of a very simple contrivance, these strips are
further elongated to the required length, when they are
cut off into convenient parcels for sale. Age improves
thent I purchased six catties (eight pounds) for con-
sumption en route. What the poor man throws away,
the rich man puts in his pocket. The Chinaman im-
merses the dead chicken into scalding water before

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88 THE INDUSTRIES OF SZECHUEN

plucking off the feathers, a process which makes the
work easier and the meat tougher. Foreigners prefer
their chicken tender and the feathers dry, even if the
result does entail more work, and John has been
brought to recognise the advantage of the barbarian
method. Hundreds of tons of feathers have been
shipped by the Chinese to tlie coast. The head feathers
of the stork, so plentiful in this r^ion, have recently
brought the enormous price of twenty ounces of silver
for one of the feathers. A few years ago these were
useless and worthless, but now these fowl disappear
so fast that the local Mandarins have issued procla-
mations forbidding the killing of storks. The business
is so profitable, however, that the hunters run the risk,
at whatever cost, and the observance of the official
prohibition excites little competition. Paper making
is another industry of Szechuen, and I have seen fifty
coolies in a line, each carrying waste bamboo to the
mills to be manufactured into pulp. They are sup-
posed to carry one hundred English pounds over
thirty miles per diem. Coal and iron abound in the
hinterland, clear up into the Provinces of Kansuh and
Shensi. The output of sulphur is considerable in parts
of the Province, but local taxation has killed the goose
which laid the golden tgg. Although I became partly
initiated into the mysteries of Chinese taels (not pig
tails, but other taels), I could never tell what a
"Ting" or anything else was worth. This inability
to size up my wealth gave me a kindred feeling to the
multi-millionaire.

The foreign imports amount to little when compared
with the local products, but, when walking along the
street, one sees Manchester calico and cotton yam ex-
hibited for sale in the shops. The middle and upper
classes will not wear the blue gown in which the com-

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r»-

TAKING A MEAL, EARLY RICE.

HO GIRLS: UPPER YANGTZE.

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THE WICKEDNESS OF WAN 89

mon herd is arrayed, so they choose garments of
various other colours. The cloth shops in consequence
exhibit the hues of Joseph's coat. In other shops I
saw clocks, candles and soap, but most frequently
FOREIGN FIRE. This is the name by which matches are
known. The native-made are of very poor materials.
Since the advent of Europeans the Chinese have
learned how to make friction matches — ^in a matri-
monial sense they knew before — but their foreign fire
is very inferior, and the Japanese product is out-dis-
tancing the local trade.

As r^;ards the alleged wickedness of Wan I shall
not deal at length. The most conspicuous is perhaps
the consumption of foreign smoke or foreign medi-
cine, the Chinese names for what we call opium. I
suppose more than one-half of the population are vic-
tims of it, more or less. The natives say that eleven
out of ten smoke! Some travellers attempt to gloss
over its pernicious effects, and say that the universal
testimony of missionaries is prejudiced. But let us
take the opinion of the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, who
ought to know. He says : —

" The Customs Returns for the past few years give
the value of our imports at eighty millions of taels.
The balance of thirty million taels represents what
has been consumed in smoking the pernicious opium
pipe! Assuredly it is not foreign intercourse that is
ruining China, but this dreadful poison. Oh, the grief
and desolation it has wrought to our people! A
hundred years ago the curse came upon us more blast-
ing and deadly in its effects than the Great Flood or the
scourge of the Fierce Beasts, for the waters assuaged
after nine years, and the ravages of the maneaters
were confined to one place. Opium has spread with
frightful rapidity and heart-rending results through

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90 THE. CURSE OF OPIUM

the provinces. Millions upon millions have been
struck down by the plague. To-day it is running like
wildfire. In its swift, deadly course it is spreading
devastation everywhere, wrecking the minds and eating
away the strength and wealth of its victims. The
ruin of the mind is the most woeful of its many dele-
terious effects. The poison enfeebles the will, saps
the strength of the body, renders the consumer in-
capable of performing the regular duties, and unfit for
travel from one place to another. It consumes his
substance and reduces the miserable wretch to poverty,
barrenness and senility. Unless something is soon
done to arrest this awful scourge in its devastating
march, the Chinese people will be transformed into
satyrs and devils. This is the present condition of
our country.** • . . . "The habit of smoking
opium is generated by sloth, and sloth by the want of
emplo3rment. This want springs from ignorance, and
ignorance from having no desirable object of knowl-
edge." . • . • "Among the Chinese, then,
there is no incentive to thought or action, no inter-
course among the people, and the condition of things
has become stagnant and effete. Effeteness has be-
gotten stupidity, and stupidity, lethargy; lethargy
has produced idleness, and idleness, waste." . . .
"A renaissance of learning would save the world
(China) by directing attention from opium to more
worthy objects. All classes, the rich and the poor,
in city and country, would have something desirable
to learn." . . . . " With such attractive objects
of knowledge held out to our people, such as the study
of the heavens and the earth and all therein, under
modem appliances, who would elect to change the
day into night (as the wretched opium-smoker does)
and spend his whole life on a divan, by a lamp, sucking

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A BENEFICIAL DROUGHT 91

a filthy opium pipe?" • . . "Therefore, we say,
bring learning to the front in order to remedy the
opium evil ! "

In the district the " regal red poppy '* is extensively
cultivated. It occupies the best land nourished with the
richest fertilizer, and is tended with the greatest care.
In the spring it is beautiful to the eye, and one could
hardly believe that such a lovely flower could produce
such devastating results. In nineteen hundred and two
there was a drought which lasted nearly two months.
The heat was intense, and the thermometer sometimes
registered one hundred and ten in the shade. The
season's crop of rice failed. The next year rice was
dear in consequence. But it is a poor wind that does
not blow something somewhere (as the farmer said,
forgetting the actual wording of the famous proverb),
for the droughts also dried up the poppies. As a result
the price of opium leaped from one hundred and fifty
cash an ounce to five htmdred, thus putting the poison
out of the reach of the ordinary consumer, and so
proportionately decreasing the sale. The drought did
more to stop the practice of opium smoking than the
remedies usually given to allay the desire for the
drug. " How poor an instrument may do a noble
deed 1 " One of the boatmen, who wore a white tur-
ban, kept a queer-looking lump on a stick of bamboo
hanging beside my bed. This curious compound, re-
sembling a ball of mixed clay, ginger, and chewed
tobacco cuds, he used to nibble from time to time. It
seemed that he smoked for five years and took this
stuff in order to break off the habit. He told me that
a Christian gave it to him in his native city of Suifu.
Opium smokers generally say they acquired the habit
in trying to mitigate the pain of some sickness; but
they testify that, once fixed, the remedy is worse than

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92 THE WICKED BOXER

the disease. The Old Man of the Sea was not harder
to throw off. Many desire to get rid of the craving,
as it is not only painful, but inconvenient and ex-
pensive. Unfortunately a very close relation exists in
the mind of the Chinese between Foreign Smoke and
Foreign Devil.

One prosperous business man, having been cured in
Taylor's Opium Refuge, presented valuable scrolls on
leaving. He said that he had heretofore always de-
spised the Gospel, but since staying in the house he felt
sure that Christ is the real Lord. The native church
in Wan numbers forty members. Many of them stand
high in the community, being men of learning, or
merchants in comfortable circumstances, who close
their shops on Sunday. The missionary in charge is
himself a converted business man.

Though the city remains the same, the attitude of
the inhabitants towards Christianity has undergone a
great change. The missionary who came here first
was turned out of his preaching place by beggars being
turned in. This was some time ago. Now the mission
has a good property and an important religious work
is in progress, which is, moreover, furthered by well-
to-do Chinese, who offer houses as gifts for the Gospel
work. Five neighbouring market towns are now
earnestly asking for Christian teachers. They promise
Jo bear all expenses connected with the work. So true
are the words of Aubrey Moore, "Human nature
craves to be both religious and rational. And the life
which is not both is neither." •

The surrounding district has been practically undis-
turbed by Boxers till quite recently, when there was a
slight outbreak. In the tenth Moon a missionary was
held up by these foot-pads at Nan-Men-Chen, South-
Gate-Market. He was surrounded and seized, and for

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TIED PIGTAILS 93

three days he was kept in custody while arrangements
were being made for his execution. But before their ^
preparations were completed, two hundred soldiers
were hurried to the place by the officials, and the red-
turbaned cowards took to their heels. Since then the
missionary is always accompanied by a body guard.
It is said that just outside the city a Boxer dug out the
eye of a man and carried it around in his pocket as a
proof of the valorous deed. There was unrest still in
the neighborhood, although I was treated most respect-
fully in my ramblings about the city.

It is a peculiar sight and not at all an uncommon
one to see two men walking along the street with their
pigtails tied tc^ether. They have had a dispute,
neither will give way, and each is prepared to swear
that he is in the right ; so they are going to the temple
to take oaths before the devil to that effect. Some-
times the man who is really in the wrong backs down
before the temple is reached, but generally he brazens
it out. Lying and perjury are the characteristics of
all heathen religions.

In Wan I was present at a ceremony more pleasant
than the tying of the pigtail. This was a breakfast
feast to celebrate the marriage engagement of two
young Celestials. The betrothal in China is quite as
binding as the marriage. The feast was held on the
eighth Sun of the last Moon of the Old Tiger, in the
reception room of the China Inland Mission. The floor
of the room was concrete, and in this respect it was
appropriate to the purpose of the breakfast. The
guests sat round two heavy square tables spread with
all sorts of good things. I was offered the seat at the
left-hand top-side of the table, i.e., furthest from the
door. Being unaccustomed to the niceties of Chinese
etiquette, I sat down immediately. I saw my mistake

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94 A MARRIAGE BREAKFAST

when I found myself sitting alone, for it was quite a
while before the others were settled. The general ex-
pression for taking a meal is to " open the rice," and
I, being the top-side guest, was responsible for " break-
ing the dishes," as the host was running round in a
ceremonious way, shaking hands with himself. It was
my duty at each course to " break the dish " in the
centre of the table, and the contents would find their
way to smaller receptacles at the edges of the table
where the guests sat, and thence to the waiters, who
took care to remove them before they were empty.
These dishes would be attacked in rotation, and,
naturally, I made some blunders, getting goat instead
of swine, for instance. But the result was the same,
as there is, after all, only one compartment inside.
Smooth sides of pork looked like a solid mass until
touched by my magic wand, i.e., the chop-sticks, when
they fell into beautifully cut slices. The food was
largely composed of pig, and the guests were almost
all pigtailed, so that about this festive board " Gredc
met Greek," and the pigtail came out on top. I was in
a hurry, so that I had to leave before the function
terminated, but I understand that though they may all
" eat the foreigner's doctrine," they do not habitually
" eat the foreigner's rice."

One of the guests at the feast was Mr. " Prosperous-
Man-of-the- World," who, though no longer a man of
the world, was still prosperous, having made money in
the salt trade. He was converted when thirty-five years
of age, and his father was so angry that he compelled
the son to walk through the main streets of the city
with a board on his back bearing a notice that he was a
Christian, and that for this reason his parent disowned
him, and would not be responsible for him in any way.
When I asked him how he felt when carrying the

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THE FAMOUS BRIDGE OF WAN.
All the Work on this Photograph was done by Taylor's "Shadow.'

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF WAN, where Taylor Preaches.

xxxi

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AN AMIABLE CHAPERON 95

board, he said that he did it for the Lord, and that his
heart had peace all the time. He was a true believer,
and kept his shop closed on Sunday, a day of which as
a nation China knows little as yet.

Second, on my right, sat Mr. Chang, who kept an
inn in the busiest street of the city. I passed it when
hurrying up from my boat, and was dragged in, ac-
cording to true Celestial fashion, to drink tea and eat
dried fruits and sweetmeats, the like of which would
have done credit to any table in Philadelphia. No in-
toxicants were sold at this Inn.

Another guest at my table was Mr. Taylor's assist-
ant, or " Shadow," as he is generally styled, who has
been with him since leaving the mission school six years
ago. He was a good amateur photographer, as some
specimens of his work in my possession bear witness.

Early one morning, after standing at the front of
the mission house watching the preparation for the
departure of Polhill and his caravan for Hsuting Fu,
I decided to stroll along the public street. Passing
through the reception room which, as already men-
tioned, is open all day, I saw an unusually intelligent-
looking Chinaman. He smiled attractively when I
said, " Well, is this where you receive them ? " and re-
plied in English, " Good day." He then kindly volun-
teered to pilot us through the street. I accepted this
offer, and, as we went along, he kept repeating, " Sin,
sin." This was a very general remark, but as I felt
sure there was plenty of it around, I nodded assent
every time. I found, however, that he referred to the
sun. After walking several blocks with a well-behaved
but curious crowd at our heels, I came to a drove of
small black pigs, so I pointed to the little herd wiggling
their tails and rooting for a living, and said, " Pig."
Very much to my amusement, a ragged urchin close to

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96 FLOODS AND FIRES

my heels repeated the word, and those behind took it
up until all about me in the crowd I heard " Pig, pig,

Pig» Pigy Pig» pig-"

My kind chaperon, who turned out to be the Evan-
gelist of Wan, was a man of great mental strength, and
had passed his preliminary examination well up on the
list. He first heard the Gospel in Hankow, and soon
afterwards removed to Wan. Six years ago, he was
engaged in teaching Chinese to one of the missionaries.
In spite of his Confucian training, he became inter-
ested in the story of Christ which they were reading
together, and as the narrative approached the climax
of Calvary, he became absorbed. During the absence
of his pupil for a few moments one morning, he read
all about the Crucifixion, and when she returned, she
found him with his head bowed, silently weeping. He
declared that henceforth he would be a follower of the
Christ who died for the world. He held a meeting of
his Confucian friends and publicly burned his family
gods. Though persecuted by his fellow-countrymen
and disowned by the Literati, he remains true to his
faith. His life motto is, " Fear not," and during the
Boxer trouble of nineteen hundred he travelled more
than one thousand li, at his own expense, to visit some
distant out-stations to help and encourage the Chris-
tians. When the missionaries were fleeing to the coast,
he went out to greet them, and from the time of his
conversion until now, Mr. Chow has fearlessly iden-
tified himself with the Christian cause.

Like all the cities on the Yangtze, Wan is subject
to very severe periodical floods, and so great is the
rise at such times that places from which the river, in
its normal state, cannot even be seen, are inundated.
When the people are warned that a flood is imminent,
they take their goods to houses along the higher streets

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A NEW FIRE EXTINGUISHER 97

of the city, and remove large pieces of the tile roofing
to form blow holes for the breathing of the infuriated
dragon. The work of removing the sediment left after
the water subsides is a labour of many days. There
have been many fires in this year of Old Tiger. The
great Chicago conflagration is said to have been caused
by a cow putting her tail into a drum of coal oil and
whisking it into a convenient lamp. The great fire of
the fifth Moon in Wan was caused by a careless native
who stuck a lighted taper into the bamboo partition of
a small house outside the South Gate of the city. The
Chinese usually do this without damage, but in this
case the flame burned down the taper and stick to the
wood, which readily ignited, and soon the whole house
was on fire. The flames spread from house to house,
leapt to the buildings on the city wall, and thence
caught the buildings inside. The fire started at ten
in the evening and soon threatened the whole city,
which would have been consumed had not the authori-
ties employed the usual method of tearing down blocks
of houses in the path of the fire. This proceeding was
effectual, though expensive. Fortunately, no lives
were lost, but the conflagration was not subdued until
the dawn of the following day, after three hundred
houses had been burned, and one hundred and fifty
more pulled down. This fire was followed a few days
afterwards by a second, which was occasioned by a
child playing with a firebrand in a powder factory.
As might have been expected, the game was adjourned
sine die. The powder went off and took the child with
it, and the pyrotechnic display which followed de-
stroyed hundreds of houses.

After these calamities, the Mandarin issued a pro-
clamation instructing the people how to stop the next
one. They were gravely enjoined, with the circumlo-

G

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98 A WILY MANDARIN

cution of the Celestial, in case of fire to climb the roof
of the house, smash six eggs, and throw a handful of
rice into the flames. When the Mandarin was asked
whether he really thought that such antics would do
any good, he said, " No, but we must do these things
to satisfy the people and show them that we are
earnestly seeking their welfare." In fact, a very large
proportion of Celestial observances are designed solely
ad captandum vulgus. When ordinary means fail to
stop the progress of a fire, it is the duty of the Man-
darin to sacrifice himself for the good of his people by
flinging himself into the flames to appease the appetite
of the Fire God. The wily Celestial, to save his skin,
does this by proxy ; he throws in his dress, his hat, and
his boots. Sacrifice of this kind is not limited to the
Chinese.

In the early stages of the drought before mentioned,
a proclamation was put forth that all people must ab-
stain from meat. Pig $hops were shut, and the coun-
try people who brought poultry to the city were se-
verely punished. But the Mandarin can appoint a day
on which the restriction shall be removed in case his
patience becomes exhausted, or his stomach surfeited
with vegetables. Occasionally, too, another official
bigger than himself passed through, and how could he
be entertained without the harmless, necessary hog?
Sometimes, to break the drought, the Mandarin travels
to some distant cave and brings back to the city a
bottle of magic water from the Dragon's abode. After
this pilgrimage, the specific may do for several later
occasions. Old disused wells have criminals' collars
placed at the mouths to catch the devils who are sup-
posed to live there, and to whose malign influence the
drought is supposed to be due. Attached to the
collar is a piece of paper, on which is written the

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RIOT AND ROBBERY 99

grievance against the devil. This proceeding is
conducted on the sub-lunary plan of dealing with
evil-doers.

Another practice is to dress up a black dog as a
woman, hire a chair with four bearers, and parade
him through the streets. As a last resort, the Man-
darins themselves load themselves up with chains and
walk to the temple to confess their sins, at least in
outward form. One Mandarin was wiser than the
rest, and reasoned thus with himself : '' I am only a
small god to these people; let us start at the big end
of the line." So he brought out the Dragon King
from the temple, sat beside him in the open court of
his Yamen, and carried on a conversation with him
about the weather. After a while, the Mandarin
went inside the Yamen, leaving the Dragon King in
the sun till the paint on his royal person was all
blistered.

Another remedy for the drought is to get some man
to personate the Water Dragon, and then run the
gauntlet of slop buckets. The nauseous things con-
tained in the water thrown over this personification can
never be imagined by a European, for a Chinaman is
never over-particular about cleanliness.

It would appear that the presence of foreigners and
the preaching of the Gospel are not the only causes of
riots. I understand that wealth is a greater incentive
to the rabble. The city of Wan contains much money,
and being only a county seat, there are not many
soldiers to guard it. I was told by an eye-witness of
the occurrence that during one of the local outbreaks
a plot was laid by a number of men to rise and plunder
the city at midnight. At a given signal of three mid-j
night guns, a body of armed men were to seize the
authorities. By fortunate mishap, the signal failed

g-^r\mm ^ Digitized by VjOOQIC

30o490

lOO A MAGIC SOCK

in its purpose, and the conspirators were hoisted with
their own petard. The authorities, instead of being
taken themselves, captured some of the leaders of the
rebel gang in the country round about. These were
decapitated and their heads stuck on poles as a warn-
ing to other robbers. It was found that a wealthy
inhabitant of Wan had, a few days before the riot,
hired coolies to transfer his valuables to the " Heaven
Bom Fort," which overlooks the city. He was accused
of being an accomplice. This charge he strenuously
denied, but his enemies, not to be outdone, then ac-
cused him of a dereliction of public duty in not ap-
prising the authorities of the plot. He was fined
twenty thousand taels. No doubt some of this money
stuck to the hands of the officials, but much of it was
judiciously used in building strong wooden barriers
across the streets of the city. These are closed at
night, and a watchman is placed in charge.

Mr. Montagu Beauchamp told me that he considered
the ready accessibility of the foreigner to the Chinese of
the highest value and that guest-room work should not
be handed over to the native. Having the opium pa-
tients in the house, instead of treating them as out-
patients, is an advantage. When Paoning was first
opened, this was the only way of getting to know the
people. " I am bound to say," Beauchamp states, " that
some of the stories of our cures were as much exag-
gerated in our favour as the opposite reports were
against us. Some of the men under treatment had
pains in the back, and to relieve these I put a large
worsted sock over my hand and rubbed the sufferers.
This had a good effect, and they spread the report that
I had a magic sock which could cure ansrthing.

"Another time I went into a burning house and
threw water on the flames, greatly to the admiration

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CULTURE AND CHRISTIANITY loi

and astonishment of the terror-stricken Chinese, who
afterwards spread the news all over the city that fire
would not bum me. Some of my opium patients gave
me an invitation to visit their markets, and this led to
my making tours from place to place throughout the
district, and I have been engaged in this work for
fifteen years, at first with apparently little or no suc-
cess. But now there are many places where the people
are opening preaching halls spontaneously; buying,
renting, or repairing the buildings and asking for a
teacher to be sent. .

" Some years ago, I had a conversation with a
farmer who professed great admiration for the Chris-
tian doctrine, but gave as his reason for not joining us
that so few of the Literati were with us. He said that
there must be a flaw somewhere which he had not been
able to discover, otherwise why did not the Emperor
and Literati become Christians? Not very long after
this, the Emperor published those remarkable procla-
mations in favour of Western methods and learning,
which caused the conservative party to rise. This
culminated in the troubles of nineteen hundred.

" The educated classes are ready to acquiesce in what
wc say about the excellence of the Christian doctrine,
but immediately return answer that it is the same as
that of their Sages. In my opinion, it is from the lower
ranks of society that the conversion of China must
come." But has it not ever been through those "be-
lieving where they cannot prove *' that the knowledge
has been spread of " the life that begins in faith, but
is fulfilled in love?" {^Afx^ idv ntari^ riXo^ di iydmi—
Ignatius.)

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One only buys by mistake ; he never sells by mistake.

CHAPTER VII.

CHINESE CAPABLE OF HURRYING ^AN EXCITING

WALK CHUNGKING THE UBIQUITOUS BAMBOO

A NATIVE CONTRACT FOR COOLIES MISSIONS IN

CHUNGKING— ON THE ROAD TO LUCHOW.

- \E arrived at Luchi, a large

m A i m ^^^^^^ iovm on the Upper
\ #/ M Yangtze, at two-forty-five

'^m A.M., and drove a bamboo
> iron-tipped punt-stick through
our leaky prow into the thick
soil of the foreshore. The pig-
tailed crew coiled up on their
pukai for a few hours of well-
deserved sleep. As we were

Sedan Chair. «. . 1 • j. ^ n

off again at six-twenty-nve
A.M., I was unable to see much of the place. Luchi
Stands rather open, part of the town resting on a
moraine. The village, my boatmen say, is noted for
the manufacture of bamboo matting, used as boat
covers, large quantities of this article being made here.
From Luchi we made good time through a beautiful
stretch of water resembling a lake. I noticed many
white spots on the landscape. These proved to be
stones about a foot in diameter, which had been

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ANCESTRAL FARMHOUSES 103

splashed with whitewash, I was told, in order to
frighten off the rabbits and protect the crops. As I
have never seen a rabbit or hare in China, except tame
ones, this testimony rests entirely on the veracity of the
captain of this boat.

Leaving my secretary to come on in the Old Tub,
and having made arrangements with a picked boat
crew and pullers, my interpreter and I got on the Red
Boat and made tracks for Chungking. I had as fine
a crew as any one could wish for. There were only
five of them, but they worked like missionaries. There
was also one soldier, who came through from Wan
Hsien with me, a fine, sturdy fellow. We overtook
many junks going up the river, which proved that our
men were making a record-breaking trip When rice-
time came, instead of stopping the boat in some quiet
little bay and all taking an easy loll, only one man
would go on shore; or if rowing was practicable, the
steersman would work a solitary oar, and so we kept
moving all the time. The boat did not even stop to
take on or let off trackers, who had to leap on and off
at a convenient place. This is another proof of the
fact which I have long believed that, although, as a
rule, " he lazily and listlessly dreams away his time,"
the Chinaman can do things as quickly as anyone else
when He wishes to hurry.

I have referred to the farmhouses of the wealthy
tillers of the soil. Large and conspicuous, they occupy
picturesque sites along the Great River. The Sacred
Edict inculcates the duty of brothers dwelling together
in peace, and as the Emperor is said to bestow especial
honours on all families who display a spirit of amity
throughout four generations, one can imagine how
many Chinese live in these large palatial residences or
homesteads.

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I04 AN EXCITING WALK

I stopped at the Customs Barrier below Chungking
and found out that the distance to the city by water
was about thirty li, but by land not above twelve li.
My Red Boat men were very tired, so I decided to go
overland, although the night was almost dark. Mr.
Lund, of the Customs, called two coolies, and lent me
a large lantern as a send-off. After being rowed across
the river, we started on the night tramp. We climbed
some hills and presently came to a one-plank bridge
across a gully, which I failed to appreciate, but had
no option but to cross. Then up terraced hills, by rice
patches, and graveyards, we passed along a road only
two feet wide and sometimes less. It was ticklish
going, as a false step would mean perhaps a cold bath
in a rice field fertilized with human manure! The
tramp lasted an hour and a half, when we finally
descended a steep stone stair to the river bank, took a
sampan ferry, and crossed over to Chungking. The
lights of three British gunboats moored in the river
shone bright, and seemed to " flash and float a friendly
greeting o'er." Then up more steep stone steps,
slippery this time, for in this city six thousand coolies
gain a livelihood by carrying water from the river to
the shops and residences of the citizens.. So we made
a record trip, having come from Wan Hsien in six
days, a journey which usually requires ten.

We made straight for the new property of the C.I.M.,
and were heartily welcomed by Mr. Willett. Mr. Hicks,
of the Bible Christian Mission, was also there, having
come one thousand six hundred li in search of a British
Consul to marry him to a missionary lady. Both have
command of a liberal vocabulary of Chinese.

The Hill City of Chungking contains about three
hundred thousand Chinese, who come from all parts of
two or more Provinces. The city is a centre of mis-

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PIGS' BRISTLES 105

sicmary activity. Fifty missionaries, including ladies,
live here and work the outlying districts from this
point. They are a band of refined and cultivated men
and women, an honour to any city.

Sorensen, a missionary to the Thibetans, is a Nor-
w^ian, and speaks four languages. For seven years
he has laboured to convert the savage tribesmen on
the borders of Thibet. Once he crossed the border, but
found it convenient to re-cross in order to avoid
funeral expenses. He was in Chungking on his way to
Thibet when we arrived. Speaking of his proselytising
efforts, he said to me, " It is the very hardest thing to
work for six or seven years and see no converts, espe-
cially when one has witnessed such blessed results at
home." As he spoke, there were tears in his eyes.
Scant, surely, are the visible results of so much work
by such a gifted gentleman, but it is impossible to
question the earnestness and sincerity of such men as
this Scandinavian, who give-the best years of their life
uncomplainingly to the thankless task of saving the
heathen in the regions far beyond. But for such as he
" shall life succeed in that it seems to fail." He told
me of one Thibetan priest who professed great interest
in the truth, and said to him, " I have been seeking
peace all my life, and maybe your religion has it for
me." But he suddenly stopped coming. Was he killed
by his own fanatical countrymen?

Chungking has many industries. The pigs here
grow a fine quality of bristles, ten thousand piculs
(thirteen thousand pounds) of which arc shipped from
Chungking every year, I tried in vain to find out
why these pigs are so signally successful in the bristle
business. This is the one product on which foreign
merchants make money. Native medicines are ex-
ported in great quantities, about one million piculs

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io6 THE POSSIBIUTIES OF BAMBOO

every year. I asked the Commissioner of Customs
how many different medicines were made in Chung-
king. He pointed to a volume two inches thick and
said, '' That book contains nothing but the names of
native medicines." Opium is the most valuable ex-
port. The native article is rapidly supplanting the
foreign drug, sixteen thousand piculs being exported
annually. Four hundred thousand goat skins were
shipped from the port last year.

On the crowded streets of this bustling emporium
of Szechuen one sees many things made of bamboo.
Indeed, in this Province a man can sit in a bamboo
house under a bamboo roof, on a bamboo chair at a
bamboo table, with his feet resting on a bamboo foot-
stool, with a bamboo hat on his head and bamboo
sandals on his feet. He can at the same time hold in
one hand a bamboo bowl, in the other bamboo chop-
sticks and eat bamboo sprouts. When through with
his meal, which has been cooked over a bamboo fire,
the table m^y be washed with a bamboo cloth, and he
can fan himself with a bamboo fan and take a siesta on
a bamboo bed, lying on a bamboo mat with his head
resting on a bamboo pillow. His child might be lying
in a bamboo cradle, playing with a bamboo toy. On
rising, he could smoke his bamboo pipe and, taking a
bamboo pen, write a letter on bamboo paper, or carry
his articles in bamboo baskets suspended from a bam-
boo pole, with a bamboo umbrella over his head. He
might then take a walk over a bamboo suspension
bridge, drink water out of a bamboo ladle, and scrape
himself with a bamboo sweat scraper (handkerchief).
The bamboo ingenuity and persistency have produced
(bamboo) joint results which exhibit the potentialities
and possibilities of the Chinese people.

Chungking is one of the finest towns in China, and

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CHINESE LABOUR 107

the estimate of the popiilation given above applies only
to those in the city proper; another hundred thousand
live in the suburbs. About ten years ago a Mint with
all the latest modem machinety was established by the
Mandarins. It . was put up by an expert from
America, but, owing to what Kipling calls ''official
sinning/' was soon closed. It was, however, re-opened
a month ago, and now coins a Szechuen silver dollar
which the native banks are trying to circulate as legal
tender. Silver is transported from place to place by
coolies, who carry twelve hundred taels as a load. It
is no uncommon thing to see a string of seventy
coolies together. When the men stop for the night,
the silver is stacked up and guarded by armed men,
but in spite of these precautions, robberies often occur.
One coolie, who had been attacked and wounded by
desperadoes, was brought to the American Hospital.
He had manfully stuck to his charge, although he had
received a spear thrust in the right side of the neck two
inches deep, a sword thrust across the face, which had
just missed his eye and severed the jaw bone, a second
cut by the ear, and both hands cut off at the wrists.
Another of the guards was in a house when the mid-
night raid was made, but escaped by hiding in a coffin,
and a third was beaten to death.

In Chungking, a carpenter receives in wages a sum
equal to five gold cents a day, and his food, which is
equal to two and a half cents, and consists of rice and
v^;etables. Half a catty of pork every ten days
is added. A daily labourer receives two cents and
his food.

The Chinese have never known the use of the screw
in mechanical appliances. Hence, mechanically, the
Celestials have no vice. The lumber for the new
foreign building, now being erected in the city, arrives

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io8 THE GREAT PIG RIOT

in the logs, green or rotten, and after being dried on
the ground, is carefully selected. Owing to poor tools,
absence of skill, and, incidentally, presence of laziness,
it requires ten Chinese to do the work of one American.

The indemnity with which the eccentricities of the
Empress Dowager and her advisers burdened China is
easier to tabulate in a treaty than to extract from the
people, the majority of whom live from hand to mouth,
or, in popular language, possess " to-day only to-day's
eating." The Viceroy Kwei, of Szechuen, endeavoured
to collect a part of his assessment by imposing an addi-
tional tax of one hundred cash on every pig killed by
the butchers of the Province. When the Chungking
authorities attempted to collect this amount, the Butch-
ers' Guild (there is a guild for ever)rthing and every-
body in China, including the beggars and thieves) arose
as one man to defend their vested rights. A boycott
on hogs was instituted, and no more pigs were to be
killed. By this action the butchers hoped to appeal most
strongly to the inner man of the populace against the
exactions of the Viceroy,' and fifty of their number,
with provisions, entrenched themselves in the City
Temple. Such proceedings amounted to a rebellion
against His Majesty the Son of Heaven and the
authorities ordered the troops to bombard the position,
and the butchers, not obtaining the support they had
counted on, were compelled to yield with the usual re-
sults. Somebody else besides pigs was killed, " lest
example breed by his sufferance more of such a kind,"
the riot was over, the boycott removed, and pork was
sold with the tax on.

As I had occasion to discover, one of the most im-
portant matters connected with an overland trip in
China is the agreement made with the coolies for the
chairs and impedimenta. It seemed wise to take coolies

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AN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT 109

from the " Hemp Country Agreement Firm," the
greatest Coolie Hong in Western China. The contract
was drawn up on red paper, two feet long and a foot
and a half wide ; a very formidable-looking document.
Herewith I give the translation, or rather a translation,
for like the legal docimients of Western nations, it
bears several interpretations.

Translation of the Contract for Coolies to Luchow.
'* Mr. Eastern Region

Of the Hemp Country Agreement Firm.

" In the respectful presence of the old gentleman, Guy (Guy
is the Chinese name of the author) of the great Beautiful
Country (United States of America) chair coolies and bearers
of burdens over the shoulders are engaged from the ancient city
of Yu ((Chungking) before the water, to^ start and escort to
Luchow is decidedly fixed that every man's price shall be in
great red cash, two strings two hundred. The reward according
to merit (that is, half a catty of pork) for each man to be in-
cluded in the price, using coolies many or few. As many as
you lay your hands on you give accordingly. Should you use
a Top Comer (three-bearer chair) or Four Bearer, or an oppo-
site Board (two-bearer chair) each chair shall be paid for in
hand, six hundred, eight hundred cash respectively. Carrying
frames and cords to be found by the gentleman who goes on the
road. Each load carried over the shoulder shall be eighty catties.
Each load carried between two men, with the skin and all, one
hnndred and twenty catties of the Heavenly Balance Steelyard,
weighed as evidence. At the ancient city of Yu, each name
received in present money eighteen hundred cash and arrived
at Luchow, each name clears up the lower foot in red cash four
hundred per man exactly. The tea money to be acording to the
generosity of the donor.

" This original document should be returned to the Firm.

"There is the Head Coolie who is responsible. In case
there is any misdemeanor, this mean establishment may be
enquired of.

"To show there is no deception in the midst of this, this
document is drawn up as evidence. The protecting and
escorting Boss Coolie is Tai Ping Cheng (Mr. Wearing-Lumin-
ous-Perfection).

"Outside this, it is limitedly fixed that in the last Idol
Moon, the Nineteenth Sun, not having yet beaten the Third
Watch of the Night, they shall have entered the City of Luchow.

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no THE C L M.

"Drawn up in the twenty-eighty year of the Emperor Illustrious
Succession, twelfth Moon, sixteenth Sun.

" He who sets up the characters, in the Change City (Chung-
king) Branch of the

" Hemp Country Agreement Firm,
" (Signed) Eastern Region."

Mr. Eastern Region, the headman or proprietor of
probably the greatest Coolie and Mail Depot in China,
was formerly a mere carrying coolie who did his work
well. He was patronized by an official who saw his
worth, and helped him a bit by giving him coolie busi-
ness. On one occasion Eastern Region lost some
valuable goods of this same benevolent official. Know-
ing his honesty, the official forgave him and continued
his patronage. This sounds like the story of an
American lad, but even in China a man stands a good
chance of getting on in the world, if he attends strictly
to business.

The China Inland Mission began its important and
successful work in Chungking twenty-five years ago.
This station of the mission is regarded by the mission-
aries as unhealthful, and, as experience has shown, on
very strong foundation. In twenty-five years thirty
missionaries have been engaged there; in fact, it has
taken about five per cent, of the whole strength of
the mission to support this one point. These figures
appear to me to represent a great outlay of human
life. It is said there is a greater mortality in the
C. I. M. than in any other mission in China. As to
the healthfulness of Chungking, there is a difference
of opinion. One foreign M.D. (a gunboat doctor)
considers it a healthful place; others think that the
porous rock which abounds here absorbs vapours
and then gives them off, thus producing malaria and
dysentery.

The ordinary Sunday congregations at the Inland

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THE CONVERSION OF MR. VIGOUR 1 1 1

Mission ntimber three hundred and fifty. A nice
chapel has a seating capacity of five hundred. The
whole property is worth about fifteen thousand taels.
As Chungking is the commercial centre, the mission has
a business department here, of which Mr. T. Geil Wil-
lett is in charge, and manages the finance, forwards
bullion, mails and necessaries; and does ever)rthing to
further the comfort and convenience of the many mis-
sionaries scattered through Western China. By careful
attention to detail, and close observation of the money
market in Shanghai, this shrewd manager has cleared
all office expenses and closed the year with a balance in
hand. The result is a considerable saving not only to
the mission as a whole, but to the individual workers.
He is a man of whom it may be said, "faithful in busi-
ness, he shall stand before kings."

I was specially struck with the despatch exhibited by
Mr. Willett in the conduct of some personal affairs of
my own. He was cheerful and accommodating, al-
though I was told he was a delicate man. Judging by
him, it might be better if more people were " sick.*'

The Friends' Mission, at the head of which is a
graduate of Dublin University, Mr. L. Wigham, sus-
tains a school for the children of the missionaries of
every denomination. The Friends* missionaries have
only one youngster in the school, which proves that it is
purely a philanthropic and unsectarian institution.
The Friends also carry on the largest school for native
boys m the city, the pupils at which show themselves
to be wild after mathematics and English. Their
church consists of twenty-eight members, and there are
in -addition fifty enquirers. The Quakers relate an
interesting story about a wealthy Chinese gentleman
named Vigour. He is thirty-six years old, and lives
about two hundred li from Chungking. He became

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112 MISSIONS IN CHUNGKING

convinced that the Christian doctrine was true through
reading a Christian book which came into his posses-
sion. Immediately he commenced to practise what he
understood to be the duty of a believer in the Saviour
of the world. He spoke to relatives and friends about
this new truth he had found, and led many others to a
knowledge of Christ. Sometime after, a missionary
who visited the place, was greatly surprised to find a
band of Christians numbering about eighty, who
gathered regularly for Divine service. He enquired
of the magistrate and the people of the village as to
the character of Mr. Vigour, and all agreed that, while
formerly his reputation had not been good, he was now
an entirely changed man. Last year, when he was
away from home on a preaching tour, the Boxers
visited his house. Some friends wrote and advised
him to return to look after his property. He replied,
" I am preparing to do Gospel work where I am, and
that is more important than anything else." **Who
ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open
encounter?"*

The London Missionary Society, whose workers
have transformed the Samoan Islands, has a staff of
strong men in Chungking, among whom Mr. Parker
occupies a prominent place. Besides their evangelistic
efforts, they carry on an extensive medical work. And
yet, in spite of all that missionaries are doing, there
are men who go about criticising them and their work,
men who have no personal knowledge of how these
ladies and gentlemen labour for the good of mankind
and the world.

Two other missionary societies are at work in
Chungking besides those mentioned; the Roman
Catholics and the American Methodists, both of which
♦ Milton's " Areopagitica."

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THE START FOR LUCHOW 113

arc large and prosperous. The Americans run much
to medicine — I find that the Chinese like to "eat'*
foreign drugs. So, barring one riot which was in-
teresting and gratifying to them, the natives have been
rather pleased than otherwise with my countrymen. A
monster hospital building is now in course of
construction, and a large ntmiber of workmen are
necessarily employed; hence it is to the interest of
all to keep the ^ce. This last year eighteen
thousand native patients were treated. The Metho-
dists have also started a Biblical Training School
to prepare evangelists for the growing work. They
are doing a good deal of good hard work, are these
Yankees.

Chungking I left with regret at five-thirty a.m. on
the seventeenth Sun of the last Moon of the Old Tiger.
I was up and had a cup of coffee, with some currant
cakes, preparatory to starting. Our party consisted of
my secretary, interpreter, the men whom I engaged at
the '' Eastern Region " Establishment, the nmners
from the Yamen, and soldiers. The coolies and chair-
bearers were prompt to their time, and did their
woric well.

A few minutes after six we passed through the Nine
Piece Bridge District, along a narrow street by the
new French Catholic Schools, at the door of which two
priests were standing with large crosses dangling on
their dark gowns; then through " The Gate that leads
to the South Place." Here Willett's Shadow said,
" Go slowly," to which we replied, " Please sit down."
The morning moon was misty as we passed through
miles of graves beyond the part of the wall which has
been fortified against robbers since the time of the Yu
Man Tsz rebellion.

Among the long lines of graves it was very sugges-
H

Digitized by VjOOQIC

H4 MR. MA'S INN

tive to see the telegraph poles and wires. By the
roadside we saw many shrines containing images of
the local deities. Fifteen li from the city we came upon
the rock Fu Tu Kwan, set in the face of which is a
large gilt Buddha, and near it the inscription,
" Righteous, Merciful, Loving." A kind-looking old
Chinaman met me and said with a smile, " You foreign
gentleman, where are you going?" "To Luchow,"
was my reply.

I was travelling on the Great Provincial Road, run-
ning from Chungking to the capital, Chentu. It is
seven feet wide and paved with stone, and suggested
the well-known common verse,

n w^ fi m rk m A
m m m m ^ vi n^

The quality of man's friendship is like the autumn clouds — thin.
The way of the world is like the Szechuen roads — rough.

— Common Verse.

We stopped at the " Perpetual Provider " Inn and had
Early Rice at seven-forty, at which meal I ate two
large bowls of rice and bean-curd. The building is
open in front, and consists of bamboo laths plastered
over and resting on wooden beams. Mother Earth
serves as a floor, and square tables, with forms on the
four sides, hold the viands. It was ten-thirty a.m.
when we passed through the " Stone Bridge Shop "
village, where there are several stone arches bearing
such inscriptions as " Constant Virtue, Filial Piety,
and Chastity," " Unsurpassed Excessive Virtue," etc.
By noon we passed the " Dragon Cave Barrier " hill,
walled about to facilitate the capture of robber bands
in that region. Near this, a tea house bore the high-
sounding name of " Worthy Virtue Hall." Dinner was
served at Mr. Ma's Inn in Peshih, a village possessing

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MONEY FOR THE DEAD 115

a street two li long. Mr. Ma was unable to tell me
how many people lived there and how many had died
there since the founding of the place in the misty ages
of the past. The dinner for three cost one hundred
and thirty-two cash, or about six cents gold. The
items were stewed meat; eighty-two cash; rice, forty-
two cash; vegetables, ten cash. This was ample for
all of us. Ma's shop is called " Complete and Pros-
perous Righteousness." At half-past three we came
into the village of Chaoumakang, and saw a family
burning paper money in an iron pan. We found out
that it was the anniversary of the death of a member,
and the relatives were providing him with money to
get through the Spirit Land in good shape.

At five-thirty p.m. we entered the " Glorious Flowery
Inn," in the town of " The-Stage-of-the-Fabulous-
Bird," having made one hundred and ten li, a good
day's work. The men were tired, but ate their vege-
tables and rice vigorously. Soon afterwards, doubtless,
they found their way to the ever-present opium den.
I wrote on my t)rpewriter, and then retired early having
first placed an oilcloth on the bed under the quilt to
guard against the numerous agile insects which seem
to be always kept on hand for the special benefit
of guests.

An early start awaited us next morning. It was
two-thirty a.m. on the eighteenth Sun that I rose
hastily, bathed, and by three-fifteen started off on the
long day's journey of one hundred and fifty li. The
early morning was cold, so I walked, and thus pleased
my four chair-bearers. By seven we were travelling
through a country of reddish brown soil. Squads of
coolies, carrying coal in round baskets at the ends of
their shoulder poles, constantly passed us. Our Early
Rice was served in the " Small Horse Village," where

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ii6 VIRTUOUS WIDOWS

I saw large strings of paper silver ingots used to fool
the spirits with. Near the " Great Orange Market "
was an arch with this motto cut in the stone, " Love
good deeds and rejoice to give." There is an immense
amount of suggestions strung along this highroad,
done in cold stone on the monumental arches. Thou-
sands of taels have been expended in erecting these
structures, many of which have been built with the
Emperor's approval. Many also commemorate
virtuous widows who have successfully resisted invita-
tions of admiring gallants to remarry. To die single,
in cases of this kind, is virtuous.

At eleven a.m. I stopped to take a view of the sur-
rounding country from the top of a little knoll. A
beautiful valley lay below. The whole region was cul-
tivated to the last square foot, except the graves,
which, "mindful of the unhonoured dead," were
covered with brown grass, now being cropped by water
buffaloes. As far as eye could reach, the valley was
divided up by little dykes into irregular patches.
When the dykes extended on both sides of a gully and
the contour lines were perfectly defined, the whole
presented a pleasing picture. The dykes are closer
together when the country is undulating. On both
sides of the road many of the fields are red with poppy
which will later on waft the poor Celestial into fairy-
land, only to drop him again into an opiumless reality
and a deeper poverty. Wheat in bunches about six
inches apart, put in regular rows of tufts, lent a green
tinge to the landscape. Other fields were ploughed
up for the planting of rice, and were flooded with
water. I saw a few trees in the valley; a few speci-
mens of fir with the lower boughs cut off. The useful,
ornamental, and ubiquitous bamboo abounded in the
lowlands. In the midst of the fields, so thoroughly and

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A CHINESE DOG'S MISTAKE 117

effectively cultivated, were numerous comfortable
loc^ng homesteads with thatched roofs and bamboo
lath and mud plaster.

At noon we " ate the Mid-day " in the " Peaceful
Heart " Inn at Yunchwan Hsien. Here are about
twenty-five heathen temples, and Roman Catholic and
Protestant mission stations. This is the second town
I have passed on this road where a " Gospel Hall " is
exerting its silent but powerful influence. The people,
consequently, know something about the Christian
religion everywhere in this r^ion. As we journeyed
along, I frequently noticed what appeared to be dark
brown fields. Being exactly the same colour as the
soil, I was easily deceived — ^luckily, in idea only. A
Chinese dog, less fortunate than myself, was actually
fooled, for in jumping across one of these "fields "
which he supposed to be dry ground, he plumped down
into a pond of water, and floundered about for some
time. I then discovered the dark brown to be a
fungus growth which is so light that it floats on the
water. It not only deceives unsophisticated Szechuen
dogs, but also American travellers of wide and varied
experience.

It was seven p.m. when our tired caravan, having
finished the one hundred and fifty li, wheeled into the
" Heavenly Original " Inn of a village called " Wang-
chia Ting." I found that an extensive robbery of
silver had been committed there, the perpetrator of
which had been caught and was in prison awaiting sen-
tence from the high authorities in Peking. My chair
coolies had completed one of the heaviest day's work
perhaps ever done up there; in fact, I believe they
broke every record ever made. They curled up, and
were fast asleep immediately after rice.

The next day was Saturday, and we made the re-

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ii8 A BARBAROUS CUSTOM

maining one hundred and twenty-nine li between four
A.M. and five p.m. An amusing incident occurred in
the morning. Before retiring, we arranged with the
tired fellows to be off at "cock crowing," for, like
many other ancient people, the Chinese take no note
of clock time. At three-thirty a.m., when we called
them up, they sleepily said, " The cock has not crowed,"
and then turned over for another snooze. Because
they had not heard chanticleer, therefore he had not
crowed. But we persisted in starting, and they finally
got up. It was over an hour before a cock actually did
crow in our hearing, when we were well on our way
on the last spurt for Luchow.

While passing through a narrow, dirty street in the
market town of Lishih Chan, that is, " Lift up the
Stone," I saw a man almost naked lying in the street
with his face within a few feet of a guard house. He
was nearly dead, and had probably been removed from
some house in order that he might die in the open. It
is bad luck to have a person, especially a stranger, die
on a bed. Such a scene as this is witnessed everywhere
in China, not only in the country towns, but also in
rich cities like Chungking. After being ferried across
the Yangtze, which we reached at this point, we came
into Luchow, and found our way to the house of some
Australian missionaries, who gave me a hearty
welcome.

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A PRETTY NOOK OliTSIDE NORTH GATE, SUI-FU. During the summer
floods the Bridge in the foreground is covered, the river rising forty feet.

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People fear a bad man, but Heaven does not fear.

The world imposes upon a humane man, but Heaven does not

CHAPTER VIII.

MISSIONARY NEEDS — ^THE WEARING OF NATIVE

DRESS LUCHOW VISIT TO A MANDARIN

CHINESE PRISONERS — ^A PROTECTING TICKET —
SALT WELLS.

Y long and eventful journey across
China nowhere furnished me with
a more hearty welcome than from
the Australian missionaries at
Luchow. While Baptists, they serve
to swell the statistics of that large
interdenominational missionary so-
ciety, the China Inland. The self-
sacrifice they exhibit, and the ad-
mirable teaching they give the
native converts, leading them to
endure persecution even unto death if necessary, is
worthy of the highest commendation. The efforts of
these Australians to win the Chinese of all classes are
vigorous and highly commendable. They display a
measure of hospitality which is characteristic of every
true missionary. Rarely are missionaries called on to
entertain beyond reason, but those at certain coast
cities should be given a grant from their societies to
enable them to make a stranger feel at home. It is a

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I20 THE WANT OF BOOKS

serious matter to have a traveller leave with the im-
pression that a Christian worker in a foreign land is
mean and penurious. The tourist, even, is easily
prejudiced by any such appearance of stinginess or lade
of hospitality. He has heard many stories about the
useless missionary who avoids society to escape observa-
tion. The real missionary will court contact with the
great, throbbing outside world, for while the statement
that the missionary, after the second year " on the
field," ceases to develop mentally, may be taken with
a grain of salt, it certainly suggests a danger. " Re-
member, when the judgment's weak, the prejudice is
strong."

Let liberal and kind-hearted friends of missions send
books, good books, to the mission workers in heathen
lands. One really interesting work every three months
would be no sacrifice to a wealthy American or English-
man, and it would serve to stimulate intellectual
growth and furnish a few hours of relaxation for a
tired worker. These books need not necessarily be
religious; there are many authors whose works have
a thoroughly wholesome interest such as would appeal
to the highly-strung sensibilities of those who, in
Eastern countries, have " nerves." Some think there
is danger of noble Christian workers getting into ruts
and believing there are no methods save those they have
chosen to adopt or those which have been established
by a predecessor in the same station. It is folly to con-
tinue mission work in China now on exactly the same
basis as held good before the Boxer outbreak, and the
missionary or society insisting on such a course is but
wasting the people's money and their own well-inten-
tioned efforts.

" The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways."

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MISSIONARY DRESS 121

At Luchow, I found the missionaries wearing native
garments, but well-dressed. Even the coolie will as
likely listen to a well-dressed gentleman as to a slovenly
attired foreigner whom he considers stingy for not
using fabrics becoming his station in life. A foreigner
attired in a coolie's plain and tasteless garb must cer-
tainly displease the cultured and official classes, and
make small impression on the others. There is much
to be said for and against missionaries adopting native
dress, but as to the pigtail there is no question. It
seems to me to be both unnecessary and foolish;
especially when there are millions who wish to divest
themselves of that insignia of servitude forced upon
them by a usurping power. The " Heathen Chinee "
calls the foreigner without a pigtail a "true devil,"
and the foreigner who wears one a " false devil."
This may be taken as an index of how the vast majority
of the Chinese regard the question. I am not speaking
of its use before the Boxer movement, but now!
The foreigners who adopt the emblems of the Manchu
Usurpation will certainly, by so doing, fail to influence
a large number in favour of a strange, uncompre-
hended and inconvenient religion. The native dress
might be continued with some advantage, but let the
hated pigtail come off every foreign missionary's head.
Or at least let every society make it optional. The in-
dividual missionary can be trusted to deal with
matters of that sort ; otherwise he is not fitted for the
foreign field.

It has been said that if the pigtail and native dress
be not used the Chinese will stare at the foreign
preacher, and fail to take in the message. That reminds
me of a man who said that, whenever he preached, the
natives stood with gaping mouth and wide open eyes ;
a statement which I could readily believe, for he knew

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122 PIGTAILS A MISTAKE

little Chinese, and must have been a wonder to the
natives, who listened amazed that their language pos-
sessed sufficient vitality to survive such treatment.
But the Gospel of Christ does not require the people
to remain subservient to the oppression of rotten gov-
ernments. Let the missionary wear the universal
clothes of advanced and highly civilized nations, and
let him leave off the miserable pigtail. It is the
superior race which should impose its customs upon
the weaker. As to being conspicuous, is it not the
business of the missionary to be as conspicuous as
possible? China will never be converted by foreign
missionaries alone. More of them are needed and at
once, to train and confirm converts : but the great mass
of the preaching must be done by those bom into the
Chinese language. There are no nobler men in all the
world to-day than are now to be foimd among mission-
aries in China, and they will adjust things to the
changed and changing conditions. Tempora mutantur,
et nos mutantur in illis.

This well-named, but under-manned, mission con-
trols thirty stations. It may be explained that a station
is a place where services are held every day in the year.
The present staff here consists of Mr. W. T. Herbert
and his courageous wife, Mr. Bird, and a yoimg lady
soon to change her name. Across the river are two
missionaries, one of whom, Mclntyre, hails from that
beautiful city of Queensland, Brisbane. He is newly
out, and spends most of his time wrestling with the
language. The latest returns indicate that he has the
"throwing hold." In all the stations there are one
hundred and four Chinese church members, but fifteen
hundred souls are tabulated as real enquirers, sorted
out of over five thousand professed enquirers. Two
million, five hundred and sixty thousand cash have been

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LUCHOW 123

contributed by the natives during the last six months
for building, renting, and sustaining churches, a result
which is considered encouraging. For many years
Tom James laboured here with one station, and the
twenty-nine are of this year's origin. Ten native evan-
gelists are employed, and it is estimated that annually
every person in the thirty cities hears the Gospel, or
more than a million persons listen to something about
the true Faith. Eight of the ten are supported by their
own people.

The workers trace the present success to a robbery
of four hundred taels' worth of goods from the mis-
sionaries. The culprits were caught and imprisoned,
but the missionaries refused compensation. It was on
the highroad at Ti-Peng that one of the leaders of the
Mantsz Rebellion held up the missionaries. For two
years their punishment lasted, and then Tom James
requested their liberation. This kindness so wrought
on the people that it is said to have inclined them to
hear the Gospel. One band of rascals passed a resolu-
tion to protect the Gospel Hall people and care for
their property. This proved to be no empty promise,
for on one occasion coolies carrying strings of cash
belonging to the missionaries were stopped by the
highwajrmen and asked " Whose money is that?" "It
belongs to the Gospel Hall," was the answer. " Clear
on, clear on," came the prompt reply, and the money
went safely to the mission. Several robbers have been
converted, among them men accustomed to command
marauding bands. They make good Qiristians. I
attended a morning service in Luchow. The audience
was intelligent and large, although the date was close
to New Year time, when every Celestial is irr^^lar in
everything but fun.

Luchow is a walled city with over forty thousand

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124 THE MEDICINE MOTHER

population. It has a large iron foundry; it is noted
for its umbrellas, and is the great salt depot of the
West. The spiritual interests of the people are fostered
by sixty-six temples and an abundant number of
priests of indifferent reputation. There is a temple to
the god of Literature, the god of War, and so on.
The wall of the city is fifteen li around, and seven
gates are usually open to the people. But last year at
this time there was a season of drought, and the in-
habitants b^an to pray for rain. They never pray
for anything unless they are hard up for it. The
first thing they did was to close the South Gate, be-
cause the South points to the hot parts. No rain can
come in that way, but the drought used that gate to
gain entrance into the city. They prayed and prayed,
but still no rain came. The officials, from the Taotai
down, went to the temple of the Dragon King, bumped
their heads on the floor, and besought the idol to send
rain, for the Sun Idol controls fair weather, and the
Dragon King the rain. The Taoist priest read in-
cantations, they all in procession walked with a flag
for three hours each day round the altar, but to no
avail. The gate was closed for two months. To
further impress the Dragon, a paper monster was con-
structed and carried through the streets, the people
throwing water on his ugly head and praying for rain,
but the Dragon was deaf. During all this time no
blood was to be shed. In time the rain, disregarding
the gods, came of itself.

In this district, if a woman is ill, she goes to the
" Medicine Mother of Luchow " for advice about her
complaint. The old hag tells her patient to mention
her symptoms, her name and her birthday. The sick
woman concludes by asking the Medicine Mother to
** look at the tgg.'' The Medicine Mother then calls

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A GROUP OF LOCAL DKITIKS, CALLKD T'l' TI PISA. The liirthday of
tins god occurs on the sixth of the sixth Moon, wht-n. as in the present instance, tlic
kIoIs arc brought out of their teni|>le, |»lace«l on a dais on the street, an<l 1 lieatruals
played before them, and in their honour, .^ui l"u. Western ( Inna.

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BEGGARS IN CHINA 125

to an idol and announces the name of the enquiring
woman, saying, ** Certain, certain, come back ;" that is,
she is calling back the soul. The old hag then uses
paper money, wraps it around an egg, lifts it up and
down, making grimaces and uttering weird and un-
canny groans, moans, and hysterical exclamations ; and
then throws the tgg into the fire. When, after a time
the egg bursts, the witch takes it out and looks at the
shape of it If it resembles a pig she says, " Your soul
has already gone into a pig, but has now returned in
this shape." The sick person eats the egg, and the
soul is back in the body again! Nothing could be
simpler than that. The Chinese say that each person
has three souls, and when one is lost he is only
one-third dead ; on the return of that soul he is com-
plete again.

When I had an opportunity of visiting the " Father
and Mother " of the city, and the prisons, I had with
me Mr. " Forest-of-Righteous-Fields," who is a
Bachelor of Arts, occupies a prominent position in the
city, and is also a member of the Gospel Hall. He is a
v^etarian, and after conversion was captured by a
leader of the U Man Tsz Rebellion and taken to a
temple where the self-exalted judge said to him, " You,
a scholar, have no right to believe this foreign doc-
trine," and he was exhorted to recant, but in vain. He
only escaped death by paying the rebel leader twenty-
three thousand cash.

It was nearly noon when, with Herbert, Forest-of-
the-Righteous-Fields, and sundry natives coming along
to take a look at the stranger, I started for the Yanien.
The street was full of incidental stairs, but after divers
trippings up and down, the peculiar sights of " South-
Comer-Head-Street " lined with pork and medicine,
blacksmiths' shops, dyers and death boxes — a cheerful

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126 THE YAMEN

street !— occupied my attention. When nothing more
attractive appeared, I watched the beggars with bowls
and poles — ^they are the only people in China who carry
walking sticks — ^and the sympathy of even the dogs is
for the shopmen before whose doors these ragged, ver-
minous, dirty vagrants stand and rattle and cry out until
a solitary cash has been deposited in their unwashed
rice basin. " Grannery Mouth Street," lined with stores
and mongrel dogs, led into " Big-Cross-Street," from
which we entered " Three-Memorial- Arch-Street," but
the arches were mouldered away and nobody could say
much about them. In China even a good widow who
did not remarry may be forgotten, although monu-
mental efforts in stone may be erected to perpetuate her
memory. The people of the street have worn smooth
the top end of an iron pile sunk into the groimd, which
the natives say has no nether end. The deepest digging
had failed to discover it. Not often in any land is it
possible to find an iron pile with only one end! The
thoroughfare is named in consequence, Iron-Pile-Street.
A short ride in Family-Han-Ridge-Street and we were
in the outer entrance of the Yamen,

In a Chinese city one can, from a good vantage point,
always pick out the Yamen. They bear unmistakable
evidences of the "boast of heraldry, the pomp of
power." Wherever one sees two poles about thirty feet
high, carrying, two-thirds of the way up, box-like crea-
tions resembling a crow's nest, smeared with red paint,
there is the official residence. When we came into the
Yamen in Luchow, we noticed near the door several
poor fellows with wooden squares about their necks.
These were cangues weighing about sixty catties.
Over the door of the Yamen, and right over the heads
of the wooden-collared prisoners, was a very
" Chinese " inscription, " In all affairs be careful that

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THE MANDARIN'S CURIOSITY 127

you love the people." When I entered, the Mandarin^
in his official fur robes, received me in the best audience
chamber, where injustice is administered, and bade me
sit on his left hand. The official residence suggests an
out-of-repair Pennsylvania farm-house, where the
owner is dead and the estate in litigation and dilapida-
tion. As we ate good sweets, I was asked my age,
where I was going, how many we were in family, what
my clothes cost, how much money it takes for such a
journey, and whether I had any wonderful things
about my person. At this latter suggestion I was ready
for business, for I had been travelling in Inland China,
and stopping at native inns, and if I had none on me,
it was no fault of mine. I showed him my watch, and
his yellow face lighted up with a home-made Celestial
smile as he handled it lovingly and asked to see its in-
sides. Did he expect to see a heart, lungs, and gizzard
in the timepiece ? The " Father and Mother of the
people " had an unbounded curiosity and wanted to see
the " wheels go round." Then out came a Fahrenheit
pocket thermometer, which, with a fountain pen, is
always over my heart, when not in use. I placed it in
the long-nailed hand of the crafty Mandarin. He
watched the mercury ascend with the bland delight of
a child who had found a new toy. Then he placed the
bulb in my hand, and when the mercury went down
he smiled with more evident delight. The Mandarin
was gratified that even in so small a thing as tempera-
ture he could raise the mercury higher than the
foreigner.

The name by which this official goes is Mr. Plum-
Patriotic-Mirror. Had I been to France? Of course
I had, but oftener to England, because Great Britain
is sudi a great country. Then he went out to his
summer rostrum, and in all his robes of state sat on

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128 CHINESE JAILS

a chair under the porch. Next to him was a square
stand with a clock out of time which, when it goes,
never runs; and the ever-present water smoke pipe.
Behind him stood his two Shadows, and ranged in
imitation of military order two rows of " heroes."
Then I photographed the batch. There were more
sweets ; he was liberal with his tea and the native con-
fections. I left him shaking hands with himself. Pass-
ing the gate, the band of drums and something that
sounded like an American horse fiddle serenading a
newly-wedded couple, played in my honour. Then off
I went to the prisons.

On this tour of inspection the Yamen " shadows "
and red runners accompanied me. The prison build-
ings remind one of dilapidated zoological gardens
where, in broken-down sheds, the beasts are human ani-
mals occupying single and general cages. Inside the
Yamen Compound there was a jail. In one room were
three prisoners wearily standing in heavy cangues, with
their heads through hinged boards. Chains about their
necks came between the wood and their bare shoulders,
so that the poor wretches, when standing, bore the full
heft of the cangues on the chains, which drove down
into the flesh. To rest themselves, it was necessary to
bend down. In that cramped position there would be
relief, but only for a minute. This room, during the
night, would contain thirty persons huddled together
like cattle. Those who have money can get the cangue
placed on the side during darkness, and thus obtain a
little rest. From the Yamen gate we passed outside to
a detention shed where over twenty culprits were
packed in a small room.

The jailer has many ways of extorting money from
the prisoners. One is to place a pole under the left arm
and fasten it against the damp wall, then press the other

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A PRISON PAWNSHOP 129

end under the right arm until it touches the wall. This
act often crushes the breast bone. Another is to order
the other prisoners to pick the lice off themselves and
put them on the subject of extortion. A more cruel
one is to tie a string to the right thumb and to the great
toe and pull until the remaining toes only just touch
the floor. This devilish device has proved effective
when others have failed. Torture seldom fails of its
purpose. I thought of the dialogue between the fisher-
men in " Pcrides."

" Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea,"

" Why, as men do a-land ; the great ones eat up the
little ones." In the detention shed the prisoners wor-
ship the image of a deified man who was incarcerated
and died there. He was afterwards proved innocent,
and has since been made a god.

From thence I went to the outer prison. A crowd
had gathered meanwhile. It is a matter of some im-
portance to have " fresh " foreigners visit the Yamen
and make a long call. In the Outer Prison a good
supply of robbers and banditti and other vicious look-
ing specimens were awaiting trial. When passing out
I saw (surreptitiously, perhaps) in a large dirty room,
a poor, wasted consumptive, naked and hugging filthy
rags, who called out to me in a thin, sepulchral voice,
" Mandarin, Mandarin, do a good deed." I found out
that he meant " Ask the jailor to release me, and when
I get well I will come back to be punished." Two
idols stood between the two wings of the wretched,
noxious place— one, the Goddess of Mercy, and the
other the deified man who was unjustly punished.

The next move was to visit the prison for capital
punishment. Here we waited for the keeper to come
with the crow-bar-like keys. He had them fastened
to a round slab of wood resembling the top of a small

I

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I30 VALUE OF WASTE PAPER

table. After fumbling about he finally picked the two
locks, and we stooped to enter. A pawnshop was the
first thing ! The poor prisoners, racked with the inhu-
man tortures of the rapacious keepers, even pawn their
very clothes for money to bribe their tormentors and
get some peace. Heavy manacles and other irons held
the condemned. It is right to say thati found things less
severe and unclean than I had expected. Some clean-
ing up was probably done before my arrival, but except
for the extortion and accompanying horrors, the
criminals are little worse off than they would be out-
side ; some are even vastly better housed and fed than
when at liberty.

At this period, my impedimenta consisted of three
chairs, two horses, four soldiers, five coolies, ten chair-
bearers, and two Yamen runners, besides a special
man carrying the order of the Luchow Magistrate.
Thus we started overland for Suifu. As we departed
from Luchow, our path lay through a large cemetery
where we passed a man picking up papers with writing
on them. He had been engaged by a wealthy gentle-
man to perform this task and present the leaves in
fire to the god of Literature. The basket the ragged
fellow used had two inscriptions on it ; " Do not throw
away paper," and " In respecting characters there is
merit." The respect for written characters is
popular, and in many shops are special baskets for
waste paper.

It was ten-thirty a.m. when we stopped for Early
Rice at the " Horse-Peace-Stage-Inn." This inn distil^
its own liquor from sorghum berries. In one day they
use two hundred and twenty-four catties of berries an<J
get twenty-seven catties of native gin, which sell for
four hundred and twenty-seven cash per catty. On the
opposite side of the inn from the still was an opitmi

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Uri: BOAT STATION AT SUI FU. The Characters mean.

"The IlFADQtTARTKRS OF THE LiFF SaVINT, ApPARATITS."

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THE PROTECTING TICKET 131

den, and between the two a place of worship and an
idol. Over the altar this inscripticm was displayed,
" Happiness, Emolument, Longevity." These are the
three things the Chinaman longs for and hopes to ob-
tain — ^happiness in this life, a remunerative dfice, and
a good old age.

The Yamen escort, which was temporarily delayed,
caught up with me. The head man carried, in an
immense official envelope, a " Protecting Ticket,"
which is issued from place to place by the authorities.
The following translation of the huge manuscript was
made by a local friend : — " This Protecting Ticket
from Luchow Magistrate's Court, in the Province of
Szechuen, to be for protection this day, has been issued
for the great American Great Man Guy. The carrier
to mutually protect and carry this ticket. The soldiers
wmU accompany to the Southern Peak City to the pre-
sence of the Magistrates' Court.

" Runners are cautioned to bring back characters to
the Chief of Police at Luchow in order that he may hear
for himself. Soldiers and runners must not threaten
the Great Man, but according to this sheet receive,
protect, and escort.

" For this purpose the soldiers and runners are
deputed to go and depart, and must with a small heart
protect, with no humbugging noise. This must be
done according to the ticket for the Great American
Chief of Police (Geil). All in one man, for the public
with one foot, twenty-eight year, twelve moon, twenty-
one siui, of Kwang Hsu.

To be given to the right.

Soldier * Crooked Happiness ' and runner ' Running
Out' "

The envelope containing this document was fourteen
inches long and six inches wide, and had on the outside,

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132 WATER BUFFALOES

" Containing one letter to be transmitted according to
time." This seemed to be a full and satisfactory paper.
What it all meant, and by what process I became
a Great American Chief of Police, was a mystery and
an imexpected honour. The men, from the Magis-
terial Representative to the common soldier, all did
their work promptly, and I was landed in Suifu in
good repair.

The first day's journey brought us the length of
" The Southern Well," a village where rifles are
manufactured at the rate of nine a month, ten men at
work. On reaching this village, I saw for the first
time in China, a salt well. Turning around a comer of
the City Temple, we were overlooking the whole salt
yard. The well, so the workmen said, was eleven
hundred and fifty English feet deep, and contained
yellow brine. Bamboo pipes, forty feet long, with a
bucket in the bottom, were hauled up by bamboo rope
wound round a large horizontal skeleton wheel, by
two water buffaloes. It was emptied into a stone
trough, and ran through bamboo piping into the brine
cistern at the evaporating station, where we were
shown large salt pans of iron. The fuel used is a small
bituminous coal, which is expensive. This well was
in private hands, in contrast to all other salt works
in the Province, which are a Government monopoly.
It is evidently a continuation of the great salt deposits
one hundred and sixty li North. In these salt districts
thirty-five thousand water buffaloes are employed to
pump the salt brine into barges and through bamboo
pipes to the evaporating plants. These animals rep-
resent a capital of over a million and three-quarter
taels. The heavy death-rate of the animals makes it
a serious business for the owners, one of whom has
been obliged to replace eighty out of one hundred in

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THE RIVER OF GOLDEN SAND 133

twelve months time. Three towns with a population
all told of two hundred thousand, depend entirely on
the salt industry for a livelihood. A Hide and Tallow
Trust buys up the dead animals and makes a big thing
out of the misfortunes of the well owners. The " buf-
falo chips " from some forty thousand cattle are dried
and used for fuel. This proves a blessing to the people,
as other fuel is exceedingly dear.

The wells are situated in the Fushan District. Here
only two months ago a Protestant church, with schools
and other buildings, was completed. The church,
which is large for China, has a seating capacity for
htmdreds of adults. Two-thirds of the cost was paid
by the Chinese. The pastor in charge is a man of
private means who gives his whole time to Gospel
work. The school received one hundred thousand
cash per year from the Hide and Tallow monopoly.
Here is located a very progressive magistrate who has
prohibited the growing of opium. The foreign mis-
sionary to the well workers is Mr. W. S. Strong, who
has been sent out by New Zealand. He has a reading
knowledge of about seven languages, and knows how
to laugh and work hard.

From Lanchi we took boat for Suifu, as the roads
were said to be very tiring. The next day, soon
after noon, the city at the conflux of the Min and the
Yangtze rivers hove into sight. The water from the
Min is clear and beautiful, and that from the river of
the Golden Sands, as the Yangtze is here called by
the Chinese, is yellow and uninviting. The Chinese
are fond of beautiful names and expressions. " The
River of Golden Sand" is fit to conjure with; it
certainly brings up precious thoughts.

While we were waiting for Early Rice, which was
late, my interpreter found a dir^ and dilapidated

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134 A CHINESE POET

Chinese book fastened to a chop-stick, which was
sticking in the mat roof of the old ccrffin we were
sailing in. This he proceeded to read, giving a literal
translation and blowing the pages over because, he
said, millions of microbes had found a home on the
leaves of the disused publication. I was inclined to
agree with him. The title of the book was, " Spring
and Autumn Classics Popularized," and it proved to
be a poetical work, from which I make the following
lucid extract : —

Spring comes, summer comes, autumn also and winter,

One year is gone and another comes.

It has its similarities and its dissimilarities.

Up to this point the poet's efforts reminded me of a
very wonderful verse about " Beautiful Snow," which
certainly betrays evidence of genius :

The snow is falling everywhere,

Falling here and there ;
Falling through the atmosphere,

And also through the air.

But to continue this microbic lucubration: —

Flowering grass comes from the Southern River dreams.
To be good is to be influenced by the spirits,
On behalf of men and the Mandarin to receive approbation.
All because in such cases it is contagious in the family.
To eat to the full and yet have over is the sign of a well-con-
ducted family;
When the heart is not topsy-turvy and the ear is inclined
We get back to the peaceful life
Which is the original condition of the spirits.
Let this poet R.I.P.

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^ m m m ^ m m

He is truly an ideal man who can watch a game of chess in silence.

CHAPTER IX.

DROUGHT AND NATIVE SUPERSTITIONS — CHINESE

IRRIGATION AND ENGINEERING FEATS THE

mandarin's SATURNALIA — MISSIONARY PROGRESS
^A CHINESE GENTLEMAN AT HOME.

'HE beautiful White Pagoda of
Suifu stands on a lofty situa-
tion at the east comer of
the junction of the Min and
Yangtze rivers. Its position
opposite the city of Sui and
on the banks of the Great
River is considered very pro-
pitious. Its particular busi-
ness is to prevent prosperity
from floating down stream
past the city. Here, in the early afternoon, we en-
tered the mixed waters of the " River of Golden Sands
and the Min," prepared to go up to the South Gate,
but one of the soldiers called from the high stone em-
bankment that the South Gate was closed on account
of the drought. (The North Gate is shut when dry
weather is wanted). A three days' fast had been de-
clared in the city to persuade the " Lord of Streams,"
the god of the lakes and rivers, to furnish refreshment

Punpiaf water lor the rice fields.

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136 REMEDIES FOR DROUGHT

to the needy crops. This rain god was once a man
who, in his natural life, built the extensive canals on
the vast plain of Szechuen, and thus reclaimed an
arid waste for the benefit of myriads. The stunted
g^ass and grain in the dusty fields which I saw bore
sad evidence of the lack which must surely be felt in
next harvest time. A long drought and the attendant
horrors of famine and disease will likely precipitate
riots and rebellions among the superstitious people, and
many precious lives of natives and foreigners may
be sacrificed to the frenzy of excited and hungry mobs.
As Burke puts it, " Having looked to Government for
bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite
the hand that fed them." That very day the officials
had been to the temple to try and influence the idol
to do better for them. To show their humility and
concern to the populace, they walked to the shrine,
but were carried back to their Yamens in luxurious
chairs to exhibit their importance to the dumb, tax-
exempted deities.

During the last terrible drought the farmers brought
in their ploughshares and other farming implements,
and laid them at the front gate of the Magistrate's
Yamen. This action spoke louder than words, and
meant that the Magistrate must not expect any taxes
from the tillers of the soil. To relieve the distress
and bring the much-needed rain, the city officials re-
paired daily to the temple, where they implored
High Heaven to pity the suffering people. This
proving futile, they clad themselves in plain clothes
and walked bareheaded and barefoot to the place of
prayer, where they prostrated themselves before the
idols, enveloped in the fumes of burning incense. In
the same humble and contrite manner, the Magistrate
ascended the Hill of the god of War, outside the

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OUTSIDK THE HOKIANG GATE. SUl-FU. Notice an image of Buddha on
the pathway. These arc placed at dangerous points to seek his protection. As I was
aKout to expose, a man called out, "Stop a minute while I obtain Buddha's protection,
or my eyes will «lrop nut" (a very common sui>erstition among the working classes).

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IRRIGATION 137

North Gate, for several days in succession, exposed to
the fierce rays of the midsummer sun until his head
and arms were Mistered with heat. Even the Chinese
know that self-sacrifice and self-abnegation are the
conditions of prevailing prayer. But all in vain were
" the imperfect offices of prayer and praise." For
months during that terrible time there was neither rain
nor clouds.

At the same time the Chinese have performed some
noteworthy engineering feats. Witness the Great
Wall fifteen hundred miles long, built on the edge of
precipices, lofty ridges of mountains, and on slopes
steep and dangerous. Witness, also, the Grand Canal,
and, worthy of notice, the irrigation system of the rich
Szechuen Province. The present " Lord of Streams,"
when a mortal about twenty-five hundred years ago,
conceived a plan for cutting a passage through the
hill La Tui Shan, and dividing the Chiang River into
streams. He undertook to carry the water by a net-
work of canals across the g^eat plain north of the
capital of Szechuen. In this he was successful, and
under the magic touch of water, the sterile land was
made to produce rice, and for centuries has furnished
food to a teeming population. As the decades passed,
improvements were made, among which was the
manufacture of a monster cast-iron tortoise weighing
thirty tons. It was fastened to an iron pillar and let
down into the bed of the Chiang, to resist the water.
Later on an official got out a patent for two huge oxen.
They were also made of iron, and each measured ten
feet in length. He brought these oxen together head
to tail in such a way that they combined to form the
character which, in Chinese, stands for man. The
sharp angles of the oxen are supposed to break the
force of the water. On the heads of the oxen, above

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138 BREAKWATERS

the edge of the dyke, some Chinese characters are en-
graved which mean : —

" The ox's head reveals the top,
His feet disclose the bottom."

An ancient writing refers to the oxen as follows: —

" Covered by the floods, the horns
Betoken plenty in the barns."

" When the water is brought in conflict with any sub-
stance, the heaviest prevails; it is possible to bring
together tens of thousands of stones; but you cannot
unite them in one body; but tens of thousands
(catties) of iron may be melted and united in one;
being united it makes one solid weight, of which there
is nothing heavier. When water is brought in conflict
with such a weight it rebounds, and divides itself into
many streams. Divided thus its strength is weakened ;
in this weak condition even bamboo, wood, or sand
may resist it ; thus though there is nothing more swift
than the water of a dyke, yet there is no better way to
cope with it than by using iron."*

A special officer superintends the repairs on the
canals. At one place it was necessary to expend an
enormous amount of labour on improvements. These
represented the work of a quarter of a million China-
men working one day. A tax of a million and a
quarter taels is annually collected to cover the expenses
of keeping everything in order. Here the bamboo
figures again, four hundred thousand poles, it is said,
being used every year. About forty of these are plaited
into a huge basket thirty feet long, and filled with
stones, large numbers of these making excellent em-
bankments to prevent inundation.

We stood in and pulled up the Min a short way,

then drew in alongside a boat containing "crushed

* The above facts are taken from the Journal of the China
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 33.

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NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES 139

geranium leaves." When we got on shore, a soldier
rushed up to me with a letter which proved to be from
Mr. Wellwood, a prominent missionary of the Ameri-
can Baptist Union, who lives in Suifu. He, with Mrs.
Wellwood, extended a hearty invitation to me to be
their guest. I gladly accepted, and engaged to bring
my boxes and " grips " into the walled city. We went
by the East Gate along narrow streets, tortuous and
wet with the slops of water carriers, and redolent of
smells, to the comfortable residence of the Yankee
Christians. After enduring Chinese inns, and living
afloat in a heavy, leaky, consumptive old tub on the
Yangtze, to drop into a foreign front yard, with a bit
of fine landscape gardening, was doubly refreshing.
And when I walked into the foreign house with its
home comforts, American knick-knacks, white table
linen, etc., all presided over by the delightful wife of
the senior missionary, it marked an epoch in this jour-
ney. I also met Dr. Tompkins and his charming wife,
who have recently arrived to join the mission. They
expect to begin work soon, and give much promise
of future usefulness.

The Baptist mission premises are close to the prin-
cipal Yamcn, the compound of which is used in part
for the storage of the public g^in sold by the officials
at reasonable rates to the people during the stress of
drought, to keep them from starvation.

The Chinese New Year was approaching, and every-
body was preparing for the advent. Stacks of laugh-
ing masks or false faces for the festivities, huge piles
of strange sweet things were seen at frequent intervals
along the busy streets. I noticed a large pawn shop
where many Chinamen were "hanging up" their
goods, for small sums to spend during the holidays.
Numbers of fortune tellers and motto and scroll writ-

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I40 A GREAT GLUE CENTRE

ers, who disposed of their commodities for a trifle,
were much in evidence.

At the earliest opportunity, the missionaries and my-
self went out to take photographs. We headed first
for the Pan Tien Tsz, Half Side Temple, which adorns
the steep side of the mountain on the south shore
of the beautiful Min. The site on which the temple
is built was cut from the living rock. It cost over
two thousand taels, and is dedicated to the Goddess
of Mercy. The whole establishment looks like a sana-
torium or hotel, and indeed, is sometimes used as
such. During the summer months when the waters are
high. It is the rendezvous of the wealthy Chinese,
who invite their friends to feast in the room over-
looking the river. Near here is the famous statue of
Tamo, said to be Saint Thomas, even by some Chris-
tians. It is supposed by the Chinese to have come
over from India on the back of a turtle. Someone
has stolen the turtle and the head of the statue, for
both being of brass, they were worth more on the
market as metal than as saint. When approaching the
Half Side Temple, the odour which greeted' the olfac-
tories suggested soap works, a chamel house, or some
other institution not kept on sanitary principles. I
discovered that these smells emanated from a glue
factory, and further enquiry elicited the fact that this
is a great glue centre. The old horses and superan-
nuated water buffaloes, worked to death at the salt
wells about sixty miles north of here, are metamor-
phosed into glue.

Leaving these cheerful precincts, we came to the
carrot market, in full swing. Carrots, ten inches long,
lying in great heaps, around which busy pigtails stood
in earnest logomachy over the price, made a picturesque
scene. China is the place for delicious, blood-purifying

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THE MANDARIN'S RETREAT 141

carrots and healthy crowds. We crossed the Min in
a sampan, paying each two cash, and climbed up the
steep bank' on the other side. Our intention was to
visit the "Spring of Perennial Pearls," which is back
in the country. We passed through a graveyard where
two stone lions still stand, true to the line. They
were placed there years ago to preserve the geomantic
" status quo." As we passed on, I noticed a peculiar
rift in the rock which had evidently been made by
human agency. I was told by a Chinese gentleman
that it was cut during the Taiping Rebellion with a
view to deceive the Imperial troops stationed at Suifu.
The rebel army was small, and in order to impress the
enemy, it marched over the hill in full view to the cut,
when they slipped through and then marched over
again. The device presented the appearance of a large
army on the niarch.

The old spring is located about five li east of the
city, and across the Min River. For over a thousand
years it has been the favourite resort of the Mandarins.
Every official of any prominence whatever visits the
" Pearly Water." This water has been artificially con-
ducted through the midst of a rodcery. In the " Hall
of the Flowing Wine Cup" the water flows in a
tortuous course through a little channel of cut stone.
At each turn is a seat for one. A beautiful cup is
filled with wine and put into the water at the top of
the course, where the stream enters, and it floats like
a little boat down the current, and into whichever nook
it stops, the Mandarin there must drink its contents.
The excitement becomes intense as the hours go by,
the feast growing merrier until it winds up in a
" regular dnink." At this spot monster Chinese char-
acters have been engraved by revellers who had a
poetic turn. Some of these, which are not understood

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142 THE TEA SHOP TEMPLE

except by the learned few, are in the very ancient
•hieroglyph.

There are two pagodas. The Black Pagoda, which
has lost its top— tradition says that it flew away one
dark night — is on the opposite side of the Yangtze,
and the White Pagoda is situated on the " Seven Star
Hills." In the Tea Shop Temple, standing near the
White Pagoda, is a large image of the Goddess of
Mercy, sitting on a huge tiger, which has a horn pro-
truding from its forehead. She holds in her left hand
a vial containing the Pills of Perpetual Youth. At
each side stand attendant goddesses. I phot(^raphed
this group, and exposed the plate a minute and a half.
The Emperor's Tablet, which stands in the centre,
when translated literally, means : —

" May the Emperor live ten thousand years, ten
thousand years, and ten ten thousand years." This
is equivalent to " O King, live for ever."

The temple is so named because in early times a
famous tea house occupied the spot, and although the
character of the place has changed, tea is always ready
for the visitor. The place is kept by three widows,
who have determined never to marry again. We gave
them three catties of rice each. I wished to photo-
graph the idol which presided there, but some trim-
mings interposed, and we were doubtful about asking
the widows to remove them; but on perceiving our
dilemma, they gladly acceded to our request.

The four soldiers who had been deputed to accwn-
pany me were required to control the crowds when I
set up my camera in the busy street to take a picture
of the South Gate. While looking for a place to set
up the tripod, I stood near an idol in a nook close to
the gate, and nearly stepped on a dead man who had
been flung down all in a heap. Let it be said in praise

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T SCKNE m sri rU, near TIIK TiOSPEL HALL. Note the
Shriiir^ ill whirh lilt siPtnts nf the tkpartcd *rc tnipposrd to dwr II fur
Jratli, when tlifac woatleit hintsc-s nrr tiiken tt* the |;ravc aiitl burnt,

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HPitU'ii ill f<ul
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tui .1 tablet, «nil placed msidr the shrine,
inadc in paper i '
money m ihe rLuiuni Itcyuint.

The

tt^ots uf uiM and silver made in paper and burned at llie
with I ' . . .

MWli

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a:

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MISSIONARY PROGRESS 143

of the Chinese that in every city there exist certain
benevolent societies, " mindful of the unhonoured
dead," which provide coffins for the departed poor.
Some one had thrown a mat over this poor fellow,
and I was told a coffin was being brought. There are
in the temples heaps of rough coffins for these emer-
gencies.

The frequent closing of this busy gate in times of
drought must cause much inconvenience, discomfort
and loss to the shop-keepers and country people. It
would have been shut then but for the approaching
New Year, as it had not rained for some time. The
Mandarins would get little " squeeze " from the shop-
keepers near the gate if they closed it at this busy
season, and spoiled the prime trade of the year. In
China there is little universal law; the Magistrate
generally does what he likes. In the city of Kwang-
yuan, for instance, the gate which leads to the largest
portion of the city has been closed for one hundred
years. The reason for this very inconvenient pro-
ceeding is that the Mandarin's wife was unfaithful to
her husband, and ran away through that gate. This
story, I believe, is authentic. The property on that
street would go up ten times if the gate were opened,
but then more wives might escape !

The French are now engaged in building a railway
from Tonquin to Yunnanfu, and may extend it to this
city. They are buying land and spending^ a deal of
money in erecting hospitals and schools. Through the
Catholic missionaries this nation has pushed forward
her temporal interests by gaining possession of land
that will be highly valuable in the future.

The Baptists have thirty-two preaching stations and
seventy-four communicants. They are very careful
about receiving members, but there are at least a

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144 A CHINESE CONGREGATION

hundred Chinese at each of the staticms who may be
classed as real enquirers. In addition there are over
three thousand two hundred natives here who are
anxious about their salvation. This is encouraging
to the missionaries, for even if only half this number
are received during the next year or two, it will be a
wonderful ingathering. There is also a great demand
for Christian books, and Mr. Wellwood says that more
literature has been distributed this year than ever be-
fore. Formerly the poorer classes only were reached
by the missionaries, but now the educated and wealthy
seem anxious to hear the Gospel.

On Sunday, when I attended services in the Baptist
Chapel, the hall was packed with Chinese whose faces
were a study. One reminded me of Emerson, another
of President Warfield of Lafayette College; some I
should not care to meet unarmed on a lonely road and
a dark night. But all were attentive. A few of the
congregation were women. Four wore white turbans,
which indicated that a death had occurred in their
family, as white is the mourning color of the Chinese.
This was the last Sunday of the year, and there was
a union service at which both Baptist and Inland mis-
sionaries spoke fluently and with good effect to the
Chinese. The native converts contribute very liber-
ally, considering their poverty. If American church
members gave as much in proportion, a readjustment
of the money market would become necessary.

The property now owned by the Inland Mission
faces on " Everlasting Prosperity " Street, but the
new buildings soon to be erected will front on the
"Street of the Local Deity." This might indicate
that Christian missions are advancing into the domain
of the gods, if names mean an)rthing. There are fif-
teen hundred inquirers, most of whom are sincere.

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PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT 145

Much interest, indeed, is being displayed on the part
of the Chinese as to the truth of Christianity, and the
labotu-ers are rejoicing to see this time when villages
and cities are calling for evangelists and offering to
rent, or even give, chapels, and pay the expenses of the
preacher. This may not always arise from the highest
and purest motives, but the fact remains that these
golden opportunities for great ingatherings are being
offered, and the missionaries are pushing the work
with vigour, caution, and circumspection. There is,
perhaps, some danger of the last-mentioned quality
being over-emphasized.

Last Sunday, near the North Gate, a young man
was bound with hempen cords to the city wall, pro-
bably as a punishment for some petty theft. His hands
were bleeding badly, and he was exhibited as an object
lesson to all evil-doers.

At Suifu, I arranged my photographs taken en
route, and feel very grateful to Mr. Faers, who ren-
dered me much assistance in the work. We spent a
whole day at the elegant and hospitable residence of
Mr. Chen, a wealthy Chinaman, whose son also helped
me considerably. Mr. Chen lives on "West-Inner-
City-Wall-Street," and is a man of property. When
we had finished a section of the work, this kind gentle-
man would come in and, after shaking hands with him-
self, would conduct me to a square table in his garden
guest hall, and from a circular partitioned tray put
on the table in front of me would gather a pile of
divers delicacies made with sugar, honey, poppy seed,
flour, eggs, salt and pigtailed skill. Upon leaving my
kind host he presented me with a triangular package
oontainit^ sweets, and then would conduct me, with
true politeness, through the maze of his garden to the
outer door until he saw me safely on the str^. Then

K

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146 A COURTEOUS NATIVE HOST

he would shake hands with himself again, and as a
guarantee for my further security, would send two of
his sons along with the servants bearing monster lan-
terns like balloons to light my way to the Baptist
Mission House.

" A proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day.''

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& ^ B'Mk % ^ m ft

ThejT drank blood and ate herbs, nestling in trees and dwelling
in caves.— ^ncienf Verse.

CHAPTER X.

A ROYAL WELCOME — ROCK CAVES — ^THE VIRTUES
OF 'by proxy' — ^A STREET MELEE — ^ABORIGINAL
CHIEFTAINS— OLD HERO BENEVOLENCE —
LACQUER TREES.

fT

HE moment the West Gate was swung
open, at exactly seven in the morning,
my curious caravan filed out of the
busy city of Suifu. Fifteen minutes
before, I had left the comfortable
quarters of the American Baptist
Mission. A dressed stone arch, erect-
ed to the memory of virtuous widows,
spanned Ta Chio Street, beyond
*'**■ which we turned a comer with the

temple of the god of Literature on the right. My
overland procession was composed of two limber
bamboo mountain chairs, four short, stout coolies,
eight thin soldiers and two Yamen Runners. It made
a pronounced impression, not the least impressive
feature being the foreigners dressed in the garb of
their native lands. Early risers occupied their time
posting red strips of paper containing characters for
New Year time, on their doorposts. After passing
through Heavenly Bath, the highway extended be-
tween fields, irrigated and rowing marsh grass in

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148 HUMAN TREADMILLS

tufts. Human-power treadmills, framed to admit
two coolies when at work, were in use hoisting water
to the higher levels. Thus we were soon fairly off on
the paved road leading to the capital, on which, it is
said, one hundred thousand coolies carry burdens.

As we approached the village of Cedar Streams, a
squad of eighteen rifles bearing four square flags, and
two long angelic trumpets, met us. They fired a salute,
then turned and escorted us in great style to the
Gospel Hall, where a banquet was prepared for us.
This compliment would have been more appreciated
had it required less precious time. Only two Chris-
tians live in the town, but so fast has the Good News
spread that a full hundred have registered their
names as enquirers. The two faithful members and
various prominent men presided over the arrange-
ments. After a long delay, a monster metal basin
appeared containing a whole fowl, beak and all, two
slabs of pork, and slices of something covered with
bread crumbs. This ponderous dish was promptly
followed by divers vegetable sweets. The welcome was
royal, and the converts and enquirers impressed me
with their gentlemanly bearing and intelligence.

" Peaceful Slope " is ninety leagues from Suifu.
One coolie got stuck in the fine sand near the place,
but we sent a relief party and got him out. This
small city lies between the River of Golden Sand and
the Horizontal Stream, Hankiang at the junction.
Here is a Gospel Hall and one hundred and twenty en-
quirers, who are mostly of the sensible middle class.
A messenger had been despatched to request that boats
be ready to take us on a fifty li trip up the Horizcwital
Stream, but so curious were the people to see more of
us that they neglected that important business. We
soon came up and secured two craft. The authorities

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I.

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A WAYSIDE INN 149

told off eleven riflemen and eight trackers to accom-
pany us. A week before, a missionary had been
attacked by thirty roughs and only escaped by dis-
playing suggestively a repeating rifle. We were now
out of the track of foreign travel. The water of the
Horizontal Stream is so pure and clear that the rotmd-
ed pebbles on the bottom can be seen. The contrast of
this stream with the yellow Yangtze is most pleasing.
The river is not over one hundred yards wide, and the
swift waters flow along graceful slopes and through
rugged mountains. On the steep sides of the hills, in
all sorts of impossible situations, are small mud huts
surrounded with bamboo in beautiful groves.

The skipper of the strange craft in which I was trav-
elling had an earnest face, but no upper teeth, which
gave his nose the appearance of being about to fall
into his mouth. Once he shouted to the trackers,
" Step out, you will get there if you go on." Twenty
li further on, we ascended the Crystal Rapids, Min
Tan, Here is a small thatched lean-to inn, where re-
cently a murder was committed. It is the old story
of two partners ; one killed the other to obtain all the
silver. The mother of the victim asked the partner
what had become of her son. He feigned ignorance.
But murder will out, even in China. She employed a
trusty coolie, who, with an accomplice, traced the
guilty man and brought him one night to this lean-to
inn. They drank wine with him, and in the dull dark-
ness of the early morning enticed him along the lonely
rugged path, where they stabbed him and flung his
bleeding body into the Crystal Rapid. Night fell be-
fore we readied the landing stage, and the last few
li were done in the dark. Once we bumped on a rock,
but these river boats are made with plank with plenty
of " give " in them, or we should have gone down. On

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ISO ROCK CAVES

the shore some people were having a bonfire of paper
money for the dead to pay their fare with in the spirit
land. A large escort was awaiting us at the village of
Huangkiang, and we were conducted to Shining Glory
Inn, where a sumptuous meal was prepared, beds
draped and ever)rthing done up in more than Celestial
style. The place boasts twenty temples and one school
supported by public subscription, one thousand fam-
ilies, twenty medicine shops and ten undertakers' es-
tablishments. The Gospel Hall is without members,
but has eighty enrolled enquirers. We had come two
" stages," as the coolies term it, to-day. A stage in
Central China is ninety li.

The second day out of Suifu takes one from Huan-
kiang to Taitingchang. We made a good start, and
did not get Early Rice till nine o'clock. Two hours
later we came upon a series of Cliff Houses. It was
near the summit of Rat Mountain that I discovered
these interesting relics of past ages. A little way be-
yond Fire-Buming-Place, Ho Shao Tien, situated on
the summit ridge of the lofty mountain and a few yards
below the road, is a series of perpendicular rock faces,
in which are cut a dozen doors some three feet high
and eighteen inches wide. One of the projecting
bosses of rock had been carved into the shape of a
human face, of which the door formed the mouth, a
projecting part the nose, and on either side of the an-
gle of rock eyes and eyebrows were cut. The chamber
into which one of these openings led was octagonal in
shape, four feet high and ten feet across. On the out-
side, by the doors of all the Cliff Houses, figures have
been cut bearing a marked resemblance to Egyptian
design. The figures are evidently war gods, for in
a firm grasp they carry battle-axes with a spike op-
posite the blade. Some of the figures are in profile

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ANCIENT SCULPTURE 151

with the feet turned out, and they wear accordion-
pleated kilts down to the knees. This, instead of be-
ing in long, straight pleats, is in seven rows of tucks.
Other faces are full, and I noticed one with oblique
eyes. Some figures stand out in relief ; others are in-
ferior and engraved on the stone. Some are almost
obliterated ; others are in a good state of preservation.
The man at the Fire Burning Place was a new ar-
rival, and knew little about the caves, but said there
was a tradition that they were inhabited a thousand
years ago, but a purely Chinese estimate of time is
of little value. These barbarian cliff dwellers had an
eye to business. All the caves had a southern aspect
commanding an extensive view and are furnished with
large, heavy carved slabs to work in grooves as doors.
They are over four thousand feet above sea level, the
view from them being one of the finest I have seen
anywhere. The air is wonderfully pure and bracing,
and the ancient cliff dwellers must have been a hardy
race of men. Leaving these interesting relics of the
dim past, we descended into the valley. At a tea
shop, one of the soldiers, having a disagreement with
a coolie, said to him, " Curse your ancestors." That
day I had covered fully one hundred li over moun-
tains. Just before we arrived at the All-Three-Inn, the
owner went with his valuables to a fortress on a hill
for the night- The building is very large, sandwiched
in between the rapid river and a wall of rock. The
architecture suggests a temple, a comfortable place in
which to spend the night if you wear Chinese garments.
On the following day we got off at the usual hour
and stopped at the Heavenly Rapids for Early Rice
at nine a.m. I like to walk about thirty li before
breakfast. It was exactly seven-forty-five by my watch
when we crossed the line separating the two Provinces

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152 THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW BAG

of Szechuen and Yunnan, The line, a vine trained
to hang there as a boundary mark, was suspended from
a ledge of rocks about three htmdred feet high.
This was the first time I had met with such a thing,
as lines of this kind are usually imaginary, but the
Chinese are practical people, and I was told that the
vine had been planted and trained by the civil author-
ities. I saw snow on the Mountains of Yunnan, a
beautiful sight, with mists floating just above the white
line. And here I was in another of the great divisions
of the Celestial Empire. When I stopped for Early
Rice all the coolies came up except the man with the
yellow bag containing my valuable papers and large
camera. We feared that he had been attacked by rob-
bers, and I became anxious. One of the runners said
that the missing coolie had hired another to carry the
bag and had afterwards fallen down a cliff. This
sounded like robbery. So I shouldered the repeating
rifle, and Old Hero Benevolence took his musket, and
we went off in search. Mr. Wellwood enlisted some
men, and finally caught up with us. I had noticed
a man like mine leave the big road and disappear up
the mountain. " Robbery sure enough," I said, " and
one of the rascals is escaping." We united our forces
at a thatched tea house on the edge of a ravine, and
went on ten li, when we discovered the bag. The
carrier had fallen, and the bow-l^ged coolie, instead
of bringing it into the village, had waited till he
could get someone else to carry it for him. The
soldier gave him a severe cuffing for his stupidity. For
some natives there is nothing like the Argumentum
ad baculum.

During the day we came into the cactus secticm.
All the time the scenery has been grand. I had gone
a hundred and twelve li that day, walked all the way.

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TOMBS OF THE MING DYNASTY 153

and still found myself fresh. Twenty li north of Sing-
gee Pin, where I was to spend the night in the Great-
Large-Prospect Inn, is the village of all ears, Pu Erh
Tu, where are some of the tombs of the Ming Dy-
nasty. There is a remarkable one near the village.
Among a large number of tombs some have been built
at great expense; one cost over ten thousand ounces
of silver, and contains the body of a chieftain and his
six quiet wives. The interior is of fine design, the
roof arched, and the sides of carved lattice work. The
entrance is into a chamber, then follow a succession
of chambers, the corridor being through carved arch-
ways which present a fine appearance. These tombs
are in out-of-the-way places, to avoid being destroyed,
the barbarous custom of one dynasty, upon coming
into power, being to destroy the tombs of the former
dynasty. Some wealthy men have been known to hire
labourers from a distance ; while others, after the com-
pletion of a magnificent sepulchre, would arrange a
banquet in the inner chamber in commemoration of
its completion, invite all the workmen, fill them with
wine, and then seal up the entrance that none might
tell the story of the location and the magic doors.
This method is similar to the system adopted by the
ancient Kings of Sardis. It was an ancient custom
of the Chinese to dispatch their wives and slaves of
the man who died; but that is now done by paper
proxy. The Chinese are great believers in proxy ; in-
deed, were it not for proxy they would find it difficult
to get on politically, socially, or religiously. Next to
Confucius, the Chinese admire proxy. At Chinese
funerals it is an ordinary sight to witness the carrying
in procession of many paper figures, which are subse-
quently burned. These represent the wives, servants,
and slaves, and are to furnish him with a household in

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154 A STREET MELEE

the land of the spirits. The Chinaman is a gcxxl exam-
ple of the " pagan suckled in a creed outworn."

On the last day of the Old (Chinese) Year, the peo-
ple were making great preparations, and many a chicken
had crowed his last challenge. There was a fight in
the street near the inn that evening, and we stopped
it. Later another occurred, the incentive being filthy
lucre. A pigtail tried to collect a debt, and the debtor
got some militiamen to side with him. The creditor
was pounced upon and would likely have been killed
but for the timely intervention of Mr. Wellwood, who
jumped into the mob to assist the poor fellow, who
was down. In the dim light a native, not discerning
that a foreigner was there, drew a dagger. When I
came up and saw the glint of steel, I thought it was
meant for the missionary, and promptly took a hand
in the row. First I grabbed two Chinamen by the
throat, and flung them off, and then took another with
a round turn. I believe in a round turn; at college
I was taught that curved lines are more beautiful than
straight. The ruffian turned on me, but having seen
the kind of weapon he handled, I thought it was time
for business. The flash of the nickel plate and the
persuasiveness of the open barrel pointing toward him
were too much, and the fellow ran out into the night
as if the chief of the spirits were after him. This row^
is a sample of what happens in every part of China on
this night. Many will commit suicide because of debt ;
others will run away, and still others will be hunting
for those who owe them money.

It was only after no ordinary amount of persuasion,
and the promise of special terms, that my men had
agreed to go seventy li to-day, seeing that it was the
holiday of all the year. So we made a short march,
intending to make up for it during the following days

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DISASTER AT HEN RIVER 155

by long stages. We went to Cormorant Rapids in
good form, and gave the coolies a present of pork.
All day we travelled along a beautiful river, beholding
scenery that was becoming more and more rugged
and grand. The village at the Rapids has a popula-
tion of some three thousand souls. Anthracite coal is
found near by, and is sold at the rate of one hundred
and sixty cash for twenty catties. Here is a suspen-
sion bridge built of iron eye-bars, which I photo-
graphed. A few years ago, on the evening of the Drag-
on Festival in the fifth Moon the bridgewas crowded to
witness a competition in the Hen River, of boats, for
live ducks flung from the bridge by wealthy residents.
At one exciting point there was a general lunge of the
people to the north side of the bridge. A weak bar
on that side snapped, and then the people rushed back
to the other side, whereupon a large bar on that side
broke, and, with a tremendous crash, accompanied
by terrific screams, the bridge gave way, and four
hundred were drowned. The casualty was so great on
account of the Cormorant Rapids just below, where
many a struggling victim was engulfed in the turbulent
waters. A man, holding a little son in his arms, was
standing on a parapet at the side. He became so
frightened by the disaster that he fell over the stone
work and was smashed to pieces on the rocks at the
bottom, but kept his arms so tightly around the child
that it was unhurt. The pres«it bridge is unsafe, as
the inside of the iron bars is badly worked, and a sim-
ilar disaster might easily occur. I have come from
Suifu to this place in less than three and a half days.
The usual time is six days.

At six-thirty a.m., on the fifth day, we made the
start, as we had one hundred and twenty li to go
to-day and the road was mountainous. I said fare-

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156 A RARE EXPERIENCE

well to Wellwood of the American Baptist Mission, a
man who has adopted a vigorous policy and is doings
a very successful work. Wellwood is an honest and
helpful man. He one day offered me his square mir-
ror, which I politely refused, but later, got rotmd a
comer and used my circular one, and was surprised
to find the very " tough " appearance presented by a
black sweater, " awfully " slouch hat, " dreadfully "
tan shoes, and some whipcord cloth which htmg on
a frame work over six feet high. At night, in the iim,
a man holds a native candle right over the keys of
my typewriter to see them work, and others lean over
the table. I have gotten in ahead of the caravan, and
am not letting them know that I understand a word of
Chinese. It is a fine experience. I have to-day done
two days' travelling, and have passed the snow line,
the cloud line, and over a mountain four thousand feet
high, and am now having a good ending to the day.
I am being crammed with kindness. The Chinese
have never before seen a typewriter. The coolies are
bringing in the boxes. Just now I took the sheet out
of my machine and threw away the carbon paper.
Amazement sat all over their faces to think I could
write two at one time. The proprietor is now feeling
the buttons of my coat. He has dilated over the re-
peating rifle and looked over the hand camera and the
yellow bag. A neighbour brings in a chubby Chinese
baby to see the strange man with the strange machine.
It is great fun. They make large anxious eyes and
want to know about the things from distant lands.
Let the Chinese obtain a Western civilization minus
the Western extravagance and they will wake up this
old planet. This village is in the moimtains, and there
being no fire-pot, I am writing and shivering with cold.
My fur coat is with the caravan. A boy of ten has

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DRAWING A PIG 157

come in. I made the Chinese salutation to him by
shaking hands with myself, but he got scared and ran
oflf. I called the Chinese word " come/' and he re-
turned and made the bow, and all were pleased. This
is transpiring in a dingy room at the back end of an
open court occupied by fowls, swine and human fig-
ures. How easily could they have pushed me off a
precipice when I was travelling along the wild road
approaching this hamlet of the mountaineers, and,
were it Boxer time, my life might be sacrificed to the
mad rage of an angry mob. But usually the dwellers
on the Hills of T'ang are a kind, peaceful people. I
ordered supper by drawing a picture of a pig, but they
went oflf and returned with a piece of sooty meat which
once belonged to some wild animal and had been hang-
ing by a string in some smoky place. Was it tiger,
leopard or cos? I know not. Then my artistic pride
was aroused. The very idea that I should draw a
picture of a pig and not have it recognized by Pigtails
was "enthusing." Then I gathered myself together
and drew another picture of a pig like this —

I was getting hungry, and in my despair I did my best,
and I am no mean artist, as the above eflforts prove,
but they were perplexed more than ever. Then I
pointed to it and g^nmted, but of no avail. By and
by, I crowed like a rooster, or as nearly like it as
possible, but I struck a new species which they had
never heard. I next tried drawing an egg and crow-

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iS8 ABORIGINAL CHIEFTAINS

ing, but that failed too, so I returned to the picture of
a pig and made motion as if rooting in the ground.
Whereupon a man ran off and came back with a chunk
of pork. But how much did I want? I made signs
by pointing to the table where the visitors would sit.
They understood there would be three, but would they
eat as much as natives? Then off a fellow ran and
came back with scales. All this in my private room.
With a knife they indicated whether it should be cut lat-
itudinally or longitudinally, so I made a gesture and the
knife went through, after a long discussion. It was
weighed and signs made how much, but I failed in
reading their well-meant antics. All the while the
greatest good humor and desire to help me prevailed.

The views on " Pearl Mountain " rival Switzerland,
the invigorating air is not excelled in the Rockies, and
the houses of Gini Po are stone, and resemble those
in the villages of Shetland. The tea and other boxes
of goods going north on long lines of ponies and don-
keys were other incidents of a very full day.

In the course of the journey that followed from Gini
Po to Shin Gai, we passed many villages with square
towers. Indeed, the towers were a distinctive feature
of the landscape. There are thousands of them in
the Prefecture of Chowtung. They were built orig-
inally as a defence against the dreaded Mantze — a
semi-independent race living across the Yangtze in
Szechuen. On the way down we passed several for-
tified dwellings of the aboriginal chieftains who rule
over their domain almost independently of Chinese
control. Their retainers and families are in practical
slavery to them, and can be punished and, in some
cases, even killed without reference to Chinese law.
Some of the dwelling-places are in lofty and impreg-
nable situations. These people do not intermarry to

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SUPPRESSING A REBEL 159

any extent with the Chinese. They divide themselves
into two classes, the Black Bones and the White
Bones, the Blacks being the " blue bloods," who never
intermarry with the Whites.

All this day I had been going up, even when going
down. The River Ta Kuan (or Hen) was flowing in
the opposite direction. This river consists of a con-
stant succession of rapids, and the green water, with
dashes of snowballs in it, and the constant roar of the
rapids, combine to make it more interesting still. The
lofty mountains overlooking this stream, and covered
with snow, make a picture that would delight the heart
of a Turner. It was about ten-thirty a.m. when we
b^^an to ascend the " New Road." To talk of a new
road in China, where the tracks date back thousands
of years, is startling. But here it is, built by the Tao-
ists, new and creditably. It consists partly of stone
steps. A third of the way up at one turning, a smiling
god makes the traveller forget his weariness. Half-way
to the top I stepped into a little tea house, and here
came upon four Taoist priests, who received me kindly,
furnished me with tea, and declined to be remunerated.

The Ta Kuan River here branches off, and is known
as the Ko Kuei. I took a photo at the fork. The
latter drains a beautiful lake in the Province of Kwei-
chow, and the view here is one of the finest I have seen
in China. At the junction of the two beautiful rivers
was once the grave of the mother of Li Tuan Tata
(the man with a short pigtail). This Li became
a famous and successful rebel during the present
dynasty, and wrought great damage in the Province
of Szechuen. As the Government soldiers were
wholly unable to cope with his skill and daring, many
consultations were held by the authorities, in order
to consider how best to deal with the doughty

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i6o TURTLE HILL

chieftain. They finally concluded to break the " fung
shut " by tearing open the grassy grave of his mother.
With savage delight the officials visited the point
where the Hen bifurcates, violated the grave and
" destroyed the corpse." By doing so the good luck
which came to the family as the result of burying <mi
the Dragon's pulse was destroyed! Soon after this
the rebel power was broken and the Great Leader
killed.

We stopped that night and Sunday at Shin Gai,
North, a miserable village of thirty families, where
the Evangelist Stephen preached to the people When
he had finished, an old man who was not a Qiristian,
but who was rather inclined to the new doctrine, read
to the people out of a book.

Leaving Shin Gai, North, on Monday, the cavalcade
took Early Rice at Takuan, a Prefectural city which
has never regained the glory it possessed before the
Great Rebellion. Only yellow dogs and black hogs
appeared to be alive. The shops were closed for New
Year, and the whole place, with its tumble-down
houses, presented a deserted appearance. The fur-
rows of " Stem Ruin's ploughshare " were evidenced
everywhere. The most conspicuous feature of the land-
scape at Takuan is Turtle Hill, on the summit of
which is a red tower and a white temple. The head of
this monster turtle is turned toward Yunnan, and the
popular superstition is that it absorbs the influences
which make for fertility and prosperity, in Yunnan,
and by some process of digestion manufactures the
solid riches and passes them out into the Province of
Szechuen. Hence the poverty of the former and the
wealth of the latter. To modify this as far as possible,
the temple has been erected on the back of the turtle,
and a reliable god put in charge.

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Hv

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OLD HERO BENEVOLENCE i6i

Among the body-guard to whom my personal
safety had been entrusted by the Prefect Wen of
Suifu, and who were charged to conduct me to
Takuan, the headquarters of another Prefect, was
one Chen, a name in China similar to Smith. His
whole name meant "Old Benevolence," but he was
only twenty-nine years of age, and both his parents
were living. His military designation was Left
Company Second Class Suifu " Learn Army." After
four years' service he was getting only three thousand
cash a month, out of which he had to feed himself.
His uniform was that of the Suifu Guards, and out-
wardly consisted of a red coat with a belt. Big char-
acters on the front and back told the trembling civilian
what he was. His trousers were blue, while about the
ankles was tightly wound doth of an indifferent colour.
His feet were encased in open straw sandals, and a
round hat nearly, if not quite, two feet in diameter hid
his pigtail. Under the outer belt he carried another,
three inches wide and full of partitions, in which his
valuables were stowed away.

I called him " Old Hero Benevolence," as soldiers
are referred to as heroes. He was a pure heathen,
but a kind one. At Takuan the new guard did not
put in an appearance, and so I refused to release the
Suifu Guards till the other men arrived. My escort,
however, forsoc^c me at the East Gate, although I
had not given them my card to take back to the Pre-
fect at Suifu as evidence that they had performed
their duty; all except Old Hero Benevolence, who re-
mained steadfast. When he wanted to return, he made
obeisance by shaking hands with himself. I had not
done with him yet, so I refused to acknowledge
the formality. Then he gave the military salute of
dropping on one knee, but this I also waved away,

L

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i62 A KINDLY HEATHEN

Finally he tried the effect of falling upon his knees and
striking his head on the ground, but without avail. I
insisted that he should continue with me, and handed
him the great repeating rifle, which he had been proud
to carry. He shouldered it and strode off smiling. It
was another cold stretch of two hundred li, which he
had not bargained for, and for which no allowance
of money had been made him by the Prefect, yet he
moved off without grumbling or sulkiness. He has re-
mained with me from that moment. He has run with
me over the mountains, skipping like a deer to keep
ahead when I have been making time; he has lent
me cash when mine was exhausted; he has bought
things for me, taking the advantage a Chinaman al-
ways does when making a purchase, but that advantage
has gone to me. This is a remarkable experience. On
the cold mountains that day he paid for the pears
which I bought without having the money to settle
for, and then ate the core and was grateful for it.
Those rusty coat pears, three inches in diameter, cost
but eight cash each, or about one-third of an American
cent, but he could not afford such luxuries. He has
never attempted to take his meals until I have indi-
cated that he might do so, and his amiability has never
deserted him. In the early morning it has been Old
Hero Benevolence who has shouted, " Quick, quick,"
to the others, and on the road when the coolies carry-
ing my special baggage were lagging, his has been the
task to hurry them up. When I have been taking pho-
tographs, he has quieted the people. He was always
at my heels, or just before me, with that fifteen re-
peater. The other day I struck off, when the men were
resting, to take a picture, but Old Benevolence was after
me with that rifle. If a dog dared to molest me, the
butt-end of the rifle was promptly applied to the corre-

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A KIND WORD FOR THE CHINESE 163

spending end of the canine offender ! Truly, " Worth
makes the man, and want of it the fellow."

His kind face and cheerful smile I shall miss. I
was really sorry to part with him. As before stated,
he was a pure heathen, still I like heathen of his ilk.
He ate and smoked opium, drank wine, gambled with
dice and dominoes, worshipped Heaven and Earth, and
bowed before his favourite idol when passing it in a
wayside shrine. This idol was the " chief of the spir-
its," a hideous creature with two teeth like horns pro-
truding from the upper jaw, while in his extended left
hand an ugly sword was held. The whole aspect was
frightful. On New Year's Day he placed a cap on his
old musket and fired it off near the idol to let him know
that Old Hero Benevolence had not forgotten to hon-
our him; and yet with all these faults and follies, I
liked this bare-footed heathen hero. There are many
like him in China waiting to be saved from their super-
stitions. He asked for a remedy for opium eating;
poor fellow, he was genuinely anxious to be freed from
the dreadful slavery of the drug.

He was proud of carrying the great rifle, and when
I was not looking, he would take aim and imagine the
quarry had been bagged. When I fired the gun, he
would jump with delight for the empty cartridge shell.
If I ate the ycdce out of a boiled egg, and give him the
shell containing the white, or left some bits of food
especially for him in the basin, so he could get it, he
was quite gratified. Poor heathen ! had he been bom
in a Christian land, reared in a home of culture and
had the advantage of a Western College, what might
he not have been? But he belonged to a race de-
spised by many of my countrymen! That race I
shall despise no longer. When I return home, even
the laundryman with his pigtail shall have kinder

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i64 GRATUITIES OF PORK

treatment, because on every hand these people have
been kind to me. And if only for Old Hero Benevo-
lence's sake, in foreign lands I must always have a
kind word for the Chinese people. The effect of
travel is always to teach one to "condemn the fault
and not the actor of it." One day Old Hero Benevo-
lence tried to get me to stop ten li short of where I
had decided to rest for the night, but when I spoke
the final word, he was off with a good grace. Maybe
he hoped to profit by his obedience; if so he was not
to be disappointed. But that is not all. It is true
that the day before the New Year he turned, smiled,
and said in very respectful language, " We are going
to take your Excellency from one year into another,
and we hope to enjoy your Excellency's grace." Had
he said " Your Excellency's grease " to make the way
easy from one year to another, it would have meant
the same. It was pork they expected, as a treat for
working on the one day of the whole year, when every
Chinaman stops work and salutes. I did not want the
bother of getting pork for them myself, so gave them
the " wherewithal " to get it themselves, and they
seemed perfectly satisfied.

Seeing him so prompt and hearty, I early picked
out Old Hero Benevolence from the others and hon-
oured him with plenty of work. He never waited for
me to ask him to carry my long coat, but offered to
do it himself; and when it was supposed that robbers
had stolen my yellow bag, it was he who went back
with me, seized the offending coolie by the pigtail and
batted him over the head, lecturing him the while. He
has not hesitated on the cold mountain roads to go
on, although his feet were sore. I do not believe his
motives were entirely sordid, but if they were partly
so, it is no wonder, and keeps him in the human race.

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RESULTS OF CAPTURING A TIGER 165

I prefer to remember only the good in him. After the
good missionary Pollard, at Chowtung, had given him
some anti-opium medicine and told him about the
God of the Christians, and I had given him a large
reward of a string of " Big " cash, he would not per-
mit a horseman to pass me without dismounting; and
returned to Suifu, there to end his days in the service
of the Mandarins. Old Hero Benevolence, fare thee
well!

Just beyond Takuan the River Hen disappears. At
the foot of a high hill is the village of " The Cave of
the Floating Water" (Chuh Shui Tong), where the
river of Laowatan, or Takuan, or Hen, as it is vari-
ously called, seems to burst from the living rock. At
the top of the hill, near the village of Wuchai, the river
enters a subterranean channel and passes out at the
bottom. In the middle of the afternoon we passed
through the demolished village of Wuchai. Last year
a tiger was captured near this hamlet. A night or
two afterwards a fire broke out and destroyed the en-
tire village. The fire is said to have broken out " at
the head and tail of each house at the same time." The
people think that the fire was the revenge taken by
the spirits on the tiger. Regarding the site of Wuchai
as unlucky, most of the people have moved to a place
ten li further south. They were encouraged to do this
by an enterprising landlord who offered to furnish
all the building materials, simply taking in return a
yearly rent. The landlord of the burnt village resented
this, and went to law over the matter, but the case
was decided in favour of the new landlord, who, in
consequence, has a nice annu£il income. In New
Street (Sin Kai South) I spent the night. That is the
new village built as the result of the tiger episode.
We had come one hundred and ten li. Sin Kai South

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i66 AN AGED CONVERT

is a new, busy place in a valley over five thousand feet
above the tide.

On the journey to Chowtung I noticed many trees
resembling the ash. They are the valuable lacquer
trees. Every year the bark is cut in a different place,
and the exuding juice is used to make the fine Chinese
lacquer. When a tree has been sufficiently bled, it is
cut down and used for building purposes.

While passing the village of Tsuan Kee about two
P.M., I stopped to purchase some brown sugar cakes.
In a shop window was a foreign Christmas card, and
on the wall the Lord's Prayer in English. This is a
famous village. It is here the great Chowtung North
Wind starts. It gets a move on too. I took the tem-
perature of it as it passed into my bones, and found
on a Fahrenheit thermometer that it registered twenty
degrees. An old man of seventy, a confectioner, became
a Christian there four years ago. His grandson was
in training for the native ministry, and gave great
promise, but was taken ill, and, after three wedcs,
died. The old man attended him carefully during his
illness, and finally knelt down at his bedside and
prayed, " Let him follow me to my grave and not me
to his." There are three families in this village who
have destroyed their idols as the result of this old
man's example, and I was proud to buy sugar cakes in
his shop.

'* A light to guide, a rod
To check the erring, and reprove"

I reached Chowtung at five p.m., having come from
Suifu in less than seven and a half days. This journey
usually takes thirteen days.

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Anybody can get an A.6. But an M.A man is like a needle
picked np from die bottom of the sea. — Currerft Proverb,

CHAPTER XL

A mandarin's view of copper mining — ^BAR-
BARITIES TO CHILDREN — ^THE GODS OF CHOWTUNG

CHINESE SINGING — GAMBLING DEATH TO

THE UNFILIAL — SHRINE OF THE MAGIC PEN

THE TEMPLE OF HELL — ^INFANTICIDE.

rHREE li north of the city of Qiow-
tung, while walking on the good,
hard earth of the Great North
Road, I was met by Mr. Samuel
Pollard, of the Bible Christian
Mission, who gave me a real
Cornish welcome, and invited me
to stop with him for any time up
to two years, when he is entitled
to a visit home. Mr. Pollard is
one of the best foreign speakers
of the Chinese language in Western China, and, as a
missionary, is respected and admired by foreigners and
natives. He has been very successful in his chosen
work, and speaks to crowded houses. Merchants, lit-
erary men, and coolies of this, the second most impor-
tant, city of the Province of Yimnan, come to hear him.
It was in very pleasant company that I entered the city,
on the way to which we passed the Northern Com-
pound of the French Catholic Mission about two li

PiBCoda.

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i68 SECOND-HAND COFFINS

outside the city wall. There are four gates, and just
before reaching the North Gate, which I entered, we
stopped to look at the Drill Ground. This place was
once the scene of an amusing incident. Two Japanese
engineers were employed by the Chinese officials to
work the copper mines in the neighbourhood. The
officials wished to test their knowledge of hidden min-
eral wealth, to do which they secretly dug a hole by
the Drill Ground, and deposited a thousand round
copper cash. Later on the officials tock the engineers
out on a tour of inspection, and ccmiing as if by acci-
dent to this spot, they asked if this was a good place
for copper. The engineers answered " No." Where-
upon the sceptical Mandarins ordered their servants
to dig up the cash, and produced it as proof of the
ignorance of the experts. This fact being established,
the engineers were dismissed.

Between the Drill Ground and the city is the mis-
cellaneous graveyard, Luan Fen Yuan, an immense
area. During hard times — ^and the times are generally
" hard " — coffin boards are stolen by b^gars and re-
sold to coffin makers. Very little notice is taken of
such insignificant matters as second-hand coffins.
Here wolves and dogs feast on the fresh bodies of the
poor, who are interred in cheap and fragile boxes.
Near this Field of the Dead is a hole often used for
the burial of children. The death of a young boy is a
cause of great sorrow to the parents. When the evil
spirit is released, it is supposed to enter the body of
the next child that is bom. In order to prevent its
return, the parents will often mutilate the little body
and bury it at the cross-roads near by. I saw in the
home of the missionary a young girl whose father had
mutilated two children in this way. Another plan to
prevent the second coming of the evil spirit is to tic

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THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE 169

an egg and some mustard seed to the body of the dead
child, in the belief that the evil spirit will not appear
until the egg hatches and the seed sprouts. The astute
and anxious parents carefully boil the tgg and the seed
in order to postpone the date indefinitely.

Entering the North Gate we turned sharply to the
left and ascended the city wall. Along the way we
passed two of the finest temples in the Prefecture,
the one to Confucius and the other to Kwan Ti, the
God of War. Just beyond these stand the conspicu-
ous tower of the Temple of Literature, which was
struck by lightning two years ago. The bolt entirely
destroyed the huge metal pen-point which is supposed
to attract lucky influences from the clouds. It is
needless to add that the superstitious Chinese hastily
added a new point to preserve the equilibrium ! Com-
ing down through a broken part of the wall into
" Great Horse Place Street " (Ta Ma Fang), we met
an ox-cart bearing a huge black coffin. This coffin
was for a member of the Protestant Church, a woman
who had just died. A little child, bom a month
before, was killed by an accident, and the mother was
taken ill, and all remedies failed to restore her. " In-
satiate archer! could not one suffice ? " The husband
was much grieved, but he had been a brave Christian
for years and stood firm in his belief. His heathen
friends tried every means to get him to call in a
devil-driver to exorcise the evil spirits who caused
the trouble. He declared that he would never worship
the devil, even if the whole family died. The day
after my arrival the funeral was held, in the presence of
a large assembly. When the service was ended, the
husband and other Christians stood up and said,
" Come here, all you people of the Three Religions,
and see if Mrs. Li's eyes have been gouged out; see

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I70 THE GODS OF CHOWTUNG

if her neck has been twisted back; see if her 1^^ and
arms have been smashed between boards; look closely
at her and never more believe these lies about dead
Qiristians. Don't be afraid, come forward and see/'
Several came and " looked closely."

The Bible Christian Mission House frcmts " The
Collection of Worthies Street " (and was built more
than a hundred years ago to accommodate the cap-
tive prince of one of the small states on the North of
Siam. The street formerly took its name from the
country of this prince, and was called " The Street of
the Mung " (Mung Tze Kai). He was held as a host-
age by the Chinese, but managed to escape. Relays
of horses were provided by his friends, by means of
which he out-distanced all pursuers and safely reached
his home. At the Mission House I was heartily greet-
ed, and welcomed by the wife of the missionary and his
two fine boys, one of whom had already mastered two
books of Euclid, although not yet nine years of age.

Chowtung has its religious interests well provided
for, and gods are plentiful. Scores of heathen temples
rise on every hand, dedicated to an assortment of gods
reaching all the way from the opium-smeared deities
and other small fry to the " Pearly Emperor " who
occupies the topmost niche in the Pantheon. There
is also a Moslem Mosque without a minaret. There
are two hundred families of Mohammedans inside the
city, and several mullahs call the faithful to prayer.
Many of the Mohammedansareengagedinthefurtrade.

The French Catholic Mission has hundreds of con-
verts. Recently they finished a beautiful chapel built
with indemnity money. The building is of foreign
brick with stone trimmings. Between the two squat
towers looms up a monster cross from the gable. The
foreign priest occupies a comfortable residence and is

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CHINESE SINGING 171

on friendly terms with the Protestants. The Bishop
recently deposed a Mad Priest who had issued pro-
clamations against the Protestants, and officially apol-
ogized for the bad behaviour of his subordinate.

The clay subsoil of Chowtung makes it difficult to
dig deep, and the Roman Catholics had much trouble
with the base foundations of their heavy building.
The Bible Mission House, in common with other build-
ings in the city, has charcoal let into the foundations
for the purpose of absorbing moisture. The Catholics
have divided this Prefecture into six parts, and have
a missionary in charge of each.

The Protestants have thirty members and many hun-
dreds of enquirers. Among the members are bright
young women who have suffered persecution because
they have insisted on unbinding their feet and re-
fusing to marry heathen. On one occasion six literary
men, before a large congregation, avowed faith in
Christ! Two acres of land outside the city have
been purchased by the Bible Christians for a training
school. Six new workers are expected soon. I have
attended evening services here, and on each occasion
the chapel has been packed ; indeed, a larger building
is urgently needed. The attendance of men was much
greater than that of women, a condition of things
which is general throughout China. Everyone took
part in the singing, but there was a lack of decision
as to which tune should be used. The native organist
used one, and everyone in the audience sang to his own
tune, the time in most cases being conspicuous by its
absence. But all tried to sing, and there was "one
heart " if not one tune.

" It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie.
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind»
In body and in soul can bind."

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172 ANCIENT MOUND DWELLINGS

When the eloquent missionary, Pollard, preached,
the literary men, the merchants, the coolies, and, in
fact, all classes, listened with the closest attention. Be-
yond all question the efforts made by the missionaries
here are making a profound impression on the city !

Chowtung is certainly a city of expanding prosper-
ity. The ancient name of it was Yumeng, which was
given to it when it was held by the aborigines. It
was conquered by the Chinese in the early part of the
present dynasty, the decisive battle being fought at
Camp Hill (Yin Pan Shan) to the east of the city.
Great forests formerly occupied the plateau on which
the city now stands. By some mighty upheaval these
forests were submerged, and now the city has an enor-
mous quantity of half-formed coal. Various utensils
used by man are frequently found embedded in the
coal, which seems to prove that the formation was
arrested. In the examinations I have made of some
of this coal, I have found that the knots of the tree
had not changed, only the branches and the trunk hav-
ing become coal. Other features of this great plateau,
which our aneroid registered as six thousand two
hundred feet above the tide, are the remains of
mound dwellings. The plain is dotted with them.
Burnt bricks found in them contain certain sym-
metrical figures. The natives say that, in those early
days, wild beasts were so rampant and dangerous
that people were compelled to build underground, leav-
ing only a small entrance. Even now wolves exist in
large numbers, and often devour children, and some-
times attack men. Leopards and tigers range at will
through the country.

Chowtung is the important place for trade with the
rich Province of Szechuen. Cloth and salt are the
principal imports, and medicines, the wax insect,

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NEW YEAR'S GAMBLING 173

and copper are the chief exports. The city and sub-
urbs have a population of thirty thousand, under the
administration of civil officials, a Prefect and Magis-
trate, and a military Brigadier-General. The Pre-
fecture is ten days' travel in length and six days' in
width, and has not much fewer than one million in-
habitants. Several races of people exist in the neigh-
borhood, among which are the I Ren, commonly
called Lolo, a term which they resent, as it means
the little basket in which they keep the tablets of
their deceased forefathers and which they worship.
Here are also the Mizo Tsz, an inoffensive people who
are chiefly distinguished for their avoidance of law-
suits and for their prejudices against stealing and beg-
ging. This race often serve as slaves to the I Ren.
The third race, who live a three days' journey from the
city, is the Ba Bu Ren, also nicknamed Man Tsz,
which means Wild Men. Mention should be made of
the Mohammedans, who really are a separate race, the
oflFspring of Persian Arabs and Chinese women. They
still retain certain distinctive features, the bridges of
their noses marking them as non-Chinese.

The lawless interregnum, which was recognised in
some ancient Eastern countries upon the death of a
king before the new monarch was crowned, has its echo
here in Chowtung. Going out of the East Gate, we
noticed a proclamation in large black letters on white
paper, telling the people that as the five days during
which gambling is allowed at the Chinese New Year
were ended, gambling must cease. Little notice was
taken of this by the people, for we passed several groups
of gamblers in the open street. At New Year, men,
women and children in almost everj' home gamble.
Close to this gambling proclamation, and as if related
to It, was a placard by a Christian B.A., which gave

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174 PUNISHMENT OF THE UNFILIAL

a long account of foreign trusts and syndicates. A
few weeks before, some men had started a coal monop-
oly under the patronage of high officials. The whole
city resented this arrangement. There was a general
coal strike which threatened famine at the coldest
time of the year. The monopolists excused themselves
to the people by saying that they were ccnnpelled to
get money to enable the Grovernment to pay up the
Foreign Indemnity, thus throwing the blame on the
foreigners. The people took the cue and prepared for
a general attack on Christmas Eve. An appeal to
the Prefect, who is on friendly terms with the mis-
sionaries and who hated the monopolists, probably be-
cause none of the profits came into his pockets, averted
the calamity. This magnate, glad to have the excuse
that the foreigners were threatened, broke up the
monopoly, and now the missionaries are given credit
for delivering the people from a cumbersome tax. The
notice on trusts. was stuck up at the four gates, and
gave the populace a fair and intelligent idea of
the working of monopolies in Western lands. Young
Americans might learn some valuable lessons on trusts
in Chowtung. Near this same East Gate lived a
family, one of whose members took to gambling. The
father tried to stop him, but all to no purpose. At
last, in anger, he threatened to strangle the boy, say-
ing to his offspring, " The Old Man will string you
to death." A few days later he carried out the threat.
No official notice was taken of this crime, as the father
in China has the power of life and can put to death
an unfilial son. This is sometimes done by bury-
ing the offender alive. Not long ago a young gambler
at Suifu was in need of money to pay his debts.
To relieve his distress, he stole from his home
His step-mother objected. The angry gambler

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THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE 175

resented her interference and mortally wounded her
with a knife. The relatives immediately gathered
together, held a rough trial, and decided that this un-
filial son should be buried alive. The sentence was
immediately put into force, and the case was reported
to the officials. A Mandarin was d^raded by the
higher powers in consequence of the disgraceful act
of the son. Had he been tried by due process of law,
and found guilty of aggravated unfilial conduct, a
portion of the city wall would have been broken down.
Thus the relatives saved the city an additional dis-
grace.

Chowtung is full of interest. To-day, the eighth
Sun of the first Moon of the Rabit (twenty-ninth year
of Kwang Hsu) I took a stroll about the city with
Mr. Pollard. We went up the " CoUection-of-
Worthies-Street," down " The Great-Gathering
Street," past the miserable looking powder magazine,
and up to the temple of the god of Literature (Wen
Chang Miao). There is a fine tower in the grounds
which had been partially destroyed by lightning. I
had some difficulty, at first, in chasing away the dogs
and black hogs which had taken undisputed possession
of these Confucian precincts. A great crowd, con-
stantly increasing, accompanied us to The Temple of
Hell, which is at present given up to the training of
the local militia. Batches of fifty young men under-
go a course of three months' instruction there getting
as pay a little over two taels per Moon. Two large
horses guard the entrance to this temple. These four-
footed custodians of the dead are said to possess human
instincts and affections; and their responsibilities as
guardians of Hell certainly do not appear to have
destroyed their taste for mundane pleasure, for on
a certain night one of them broke loose and captured

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138 BREAKWATERS

the edge of the dyke, some Chinese characters are en-
graved which mean : —

" The ox's head reveals the top,
His feet disclose the bottom."

An ancient writing refers to the oxen as follows :t—

" Covered by the floods, the horns
Betoken plenty in the bams."

" When the water is brought in conflict with any sub-
stance, the heaviest prevails; it is possible to bring
together tens of thousands of stones; but you cannot
unite them in one body; but tens of thousands
(catties) of iron may be melted and united in one;
being united it makes one solid weight, of which there
is nothing heavier. When water is brought in conflict
with such a weight it rebounds, and divides itself into
many streams. Divided thus its strength is weakened ;
in this weak condition even bamboo, wood, or sand
may resist it ; thus though there is nothing more swift
than the water of a dyke, yet there is no better way to
cope with it than by using iron."*

A special officer superintends the repairs on the
canals. At one place it was necessary to expend an
enormous amount of labour on improvements. These
represented the work of a quarter of a million China-
men working one day. A tax of a million and a
quarter taels is annually collected to cover the expenses
of keeping everything in order. Here the bamboo
figures again, four hundred thousand poles, it is said,
being used every year. About forty of these are plaited
into a huge basket thirty feet long, and filled with
stones, large numbers of these making excellent em-
bankments to prevent inundation.

We stood in and pulled up the Min a short way,

then drew in alongside a boat containing "crushed

* The above facts are taken from the Journal of the China
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society . Vol. 33.

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NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES 139

geranium leaves." When we got on shore, a soldier
rushed up to me with a letter which proved to be from
Mr. Wellwood, a prominent missionary of the Ameri-
can Baptist Union, who lives in Suifu. He, with Mrs.
Wellwood, extended a hearty invitation to me to be
their guest. I gladly accepted, and engaged to bring
my boxes and " grips " into the walled city. We went
by the East Gate along narrow streets, tortuous and
wet with the slops of water carriers, and redolent of
smells, to the comfortable residence of the Yankee
Christians. After enduring Giinese inns, and living
afloat in a heavy, leaky, consumptive old tub on the
Yangtze, to drop into a foreign front yard, with a bit
of fine landscape gardening, was doubly refreshing.
And when I walked into the foreign house with its
home comforts, American knick-knacks, white table
linen, etc., all presided over by the delightful wife of
the senior missionary, it marked an epoch in this jour-
ney, I also met Dr. Tompkins and his charming wife,
who have recently arrived to join the mission. They
expect to begin work soon, and give much promise
of future usefulness.

The Baptist mission premises are close to the prin-
cipal Yamen, the compound of which is used in part
for the storage of the public grain sold by the officials
at reasonable rates to the people during the stress of
drought, to keep them from starvation.

The Chinese New Year was approaching, and every-
body was preparing for the advent. Stacks of laugh-
ing masks or false faces for the festivities, huge piles
of strange sweet things were seen at frequent intervals
along the busy streets. I noticed a large pawn shop
where many Chinamen were "hanging up" their
goods, for small sums to spend during the holidays.
Numbers of fortune tellers and motto and scroll writ-

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I40 A GREAT GLUE CENTRE

ers, who disposed of their commodities for a trifle,
were much in evidence.

At the earliest opportunity, the missionaries and my-
self went out to take photographs. We headed first
for the Pan Tien Tsz, Half Side Temple, which adorns
the steep side of the mountain on the south shore
of the beautiful Min. The site on which the temple
is built was cut from the living rock. It cost over
two thousand taels, and is dedicated to the Goddess
of Mercy. The whole establishment looks like a sana-
torium or hotel, and indeed, is sometimes used as
such. During the stimmer months when the waters are
high, it is the rendezvous of the wealthy Chinese,
who invite their friends to feast in the room over-
looking the river. Near here is the famous statue of
Tamo, said to be Saint Thomas, even by some Chris-
tians. It is supposed by the Chinese to have come
over from India on the back of a turtle. Someone
has stolen the turtle and the head of the statue, for
both being of brass, they were worth more on the
market as metal than as saint. When approaching the
Half Side Temple, the odour which greeted^the olfac-
tories suggested soap works, a chamel house, or some
other institution not kept on sanitary principles. I
discovered that these smells emanated from a glue
factory, and further enquiry elicited the fact that this
is a great glue centre. The old horses and superan-
nuated water buflFaloes, worked to death at the salt
wells about sixty miles north of here, are metamor-
phosed into glue.

Leaving these cheerful precincts, we came to the
carrot market, in full swing. Carrots, ten inches long,
lying in great heaps, around which busy pigtails stood
in earnest logomachy over the price, made a picturesque
scene. China is the place for delicious, blood-purifying

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THE MANDARIN'S RETREAT 141

carrots and healthy crowds. We crossed the Min in
a sampan, paying each two cash, and climbed up the
steep bank' on the other side. Our intention was to
visit the "Spring of Perennial Pearls," which is back
in the country. We passed through a graveyard where
two stone lions still stand, true to the line. They
were placed there years ago to preserve the geomantic
** status quo." As we passed on, I noticed a peculiar
rift in the rock which had evidently been made by
human agency. I was told by a Chinese gentleman
that it was cut during the Taiping Rebellion with a
view to deceive the Imperial troops stationed at Suifu.
The rebel army was small, and in order to impress the
enemy, it marched over the hill in full view to the cut,
when they slipped through and then marched over
again. The device presented the appearance of a large
army on the niarch.

The old spring is located about five li east of the
city, and across the Min River. For over a thousand
years it has been the favourite resort of the Mandarins.
Every official of any prominence whatever visits the
" Pearly Water." This water has been artificially con-
ducted through the midst of a rodcery. In the " Hall
of the Flowing Wine Cup" the water flows in a
tortuous course through a little channel of cut stone.
At each turn is a seat for one. A beautiful cup is
filled with wine and put into the water at the top of
the course, where the stream enters, and it floats like
a little boat down the current, and into whichever nook
it stops, the Mandarin there must drink its contents.
The excitement becomes intense as the hours go by,
the feast growing merrier until it winds up in a
" regular drunk." At this spot monster Chinese char-
acters have been engraved by revellers who had a
poetic turn. Some of these, which are not understood

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142 THE TEA SHOP TEMPLE

except by the learned few, are in the very ancient
•hieroglyph.

There are two pagodas. The Black Pagoda, which
has lost its top — tradition says that it flew away one
dark night — is on the opposite side of the Yangtze,
and the White Pagoda is situated on the " Seven Star
Hills." In the Tea Shop Temple, standing near the
White Pagoda, is a large image of the Goddess of
Mercy, sitting on a huge tiger, which has a horn pro-
truding from its forehead. She holds in her left hand
a vial containing the Pills of Perpetual Youth. At
each side stand attendant goddesses. I photographed
this group, and exposed the plate a minute and a half.
The Emperor's Tablet, which stands in the centre,
when translated literally, means : —

" May the Emperor live ten thousand years, ten
thousand years, and ten ten thousand years," This
is equivalent to " O King, live for ever."

The temple is so named because in early times a
famous tea house occupied the spot, and although the
character of the place has changed, tea is always ready
for the visitor. The place is kept by three widows,
who have determined never to marry again. We gave
them three catties of rice each. I wished to photo-
graph the idol which presided there, but some trim-
mings interposed, and we were doubtful about asking
the widows to remove them; but on perceiving our
dilemma, they gladly acceded to our request.

The four soldiers who had been deputed to accom-
pany me were required to control the crowds when I
set up my camera in the busy street to take a picture
of the South Gate. While looking for a place to set
up the tripod, I stood near an idol in a nook close to
the gate, and nearly stepped on a dead man who had
been flung down all in a heap. Let it be said in praise

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A .STflKKT f^CEbiK IN Sri FU, %'EAR Tlin: GOSPEL HALL, Note the
i "(fm* 411 rl ^pjint ^ilinni^s in wliich the 9|iirtt!4 wf the (kparted are itupposvd to dwell fur
' 'n ytJir» aftti lirjtU^ wlicn Uieae wiKidvn hnuw* aic lakcn tu thp^rave ami burnt*

r!i k- lihersttiitK tlic spint, wlia ,it trticc take* it^ tkparture it) (he? Regime of Ke»t, Tlie
M iirtr tji llie tWrascd is writlcn in Kold €>ti A tablet, and pUced in side the shrine. The
WocSle* hQiiirifix up art inifot!! of roM imd silvtr mflde in paper j " '
|^4Ve:strle tr* 4iii||t|»l;^' i|i« tlcCr<aiMrd willi money tn tJie region 9 beyond.

xlvu

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MISSIONARY PROGRESS 143

of the Chinese that in every city there exist certain
benevolent societies, "mindful of the unhonoured
dead/' which provide coffins for the departed poor.
Some one had thrown a mat over this poor fellow,
and I was told a coffin was being brought. There are
in the temples heaps of rough coffins for these emer-
gencies.

The frequent closing of this busy gate in times of
drought must cause much inconvenience, discomfort
and loss to the shop-keepers and country people. It
would have been shut then but for the approaching
New Year, as it had not rained for some time. The
Mandarins would get little " squeeze " from the shop-
keepers near the gate if they closed it at this busy
season, and spoiled the prime trade of the year. In
China there is little universal law; the Magistrate
generally does what he likes. In the city of Kwang-
yuan, for instance, the gate which leads to the largest
portion of the city has been closed for one hundred
years. The reason for this very inconvenient pro-
ceeding is that the Mandarin's wife was unfaithful to
her husband, and ran away through that gate. This
story, I believe, is authentic. The property on that
street would go up ten times if the gate were opened,
but then more wives might escape !

The French are now engaged in building a railway
from Tonquin to Yimnanfu, and may extend it to this
dty. They are buying land and spending, a deal of
money in erecting hospitals and schools. Through the
Catholic missionaries this nation has pushed forward
her temporal interests by gaining possession of land
that will be highly valuable in the future.

The Baptists have thirty-two preaching stations and
seventy-four communicants. They are very careful
about receiving members, but there are at least a

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144 A CHINESE CONGREGATION

hundred Chinese at each of the stations who may be
classed as real enquirers. In addition there are over
three thousand two hundred natives here who are
anxious about their salvation. This is encouraging
to the missionaries, for even if only half this ntimber
are received during the next year or two, it will be a
wonderful ingathering. There is also a great demand
for Christian books, and Mr. Wellwood says that more
literature has been distributed this year than ever be-
fore. Formerly the poorer classes only were reached
by the missionaries, but now the educated and wealthy
seem anxious to hear the Gospel.

On Sunday, when I attended services in the Baptist
Chapel, the hall was packed with Chinese whose faces
were a study. One reminded me of Emers(Mi, another
of President Warfield of Lafayette College; some I
should not care to meet unarmed on a lonely road and
a dark night. But all were attentive. A few of the
congregation were women. Four wore white turbans,
which indicated that a death had occurred in their
family, as white is the mourning color of the Chinese.
This was the last Sunday of the year, and there was
a union service at which both Baptist and Inland mis-
sionaries spoke fluently and with good effect to the
Chinese. The native converts contribute very liber-
ally, considering their poverty. If American church
members gave as much in proportion, a readjustment
of the money market would become necessary.

The property now owned by the Inland Mission
faces on " Everlasting Prosperity " Street, but the
new buildings soon to be erected will front on the
" Street of the Local Deity." This might indicate
that Christian missions are advancing into the domain
of the gods, if names mean anything. There are fif-
teen hundred inquirers, most of whom are sincere.

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PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT 145

Much interest, indeed, is being displayed on the part
of the Chinese as to the truth of Christianity, and the
labourers are rejoicing to see this time when villages
and cities are calling for evangelists and offering to
rent, or even give, chapels, and pay the expenses of the
preacher. This may not always arise from the highest
and purest motives, but the fact remains that these
golden opportunities for great ingatherings are being
offered, and the missionaries are pushing the work
with vigour, caution, and circumspection. There is,
perhaps, some danger of the last-mentioned quality
being over-emphasized.

Last Sunday, near the North Gate, a young man
was bound with hempen cords to the city wall, pro-
bably as a punishment for some petty theft. His hands
were bleeding badly, and he was exhibited as an object
lesson to all evil-doers.

At Suifu, I arranged my photographs taken en
route, and feel very grateful to Mr. Faers, who ren-
dered me much assistance in the work. We spent a
whole day at the elegant and hospitable residence of
Mr. Chen, a wealthy Chinaman, whose son also helped
me considerably. Mr. Chen lives on "West-Inner-
City- Wall-Street,*' and is a man of property. When
we had finished a section of the work, this kind gentle-
man would come in and, after shaking hands with him-
self, would conduct me to a square table in his garden
guest hall, and from a circular partitioned tray put
on the table in front of me would gather a pile of
divers delicacies made with sugar, honey, poppy seed,
flour, eggs, salt and pigtailed skill. Upon leaving my
kind host he presented me with a triangular package
containing sweets, and then would conduct me, with
true politeness, through the maze of his garden to the
outer door until he saw me safely on the str^. Then

K

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146 A COURTEOUS NATIVE HOST

he would shake hands with himself again, and as a
guarantee for my further security, would send two of
his sons along with the servants bearing monster lan-
terns like balloons to light my way to the Baptist
Mission House.

" A proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day."

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& ^ jg'M % ^ m nb

They drank blood and ate herbs, nestling in trees and dwelling
in caves.— -i^nrttffMr Verse.

CHAPTER X.

A ROYAL WELCOME — ROCK CAVES — ^THE VIRTUES
OF 'by proxy' — ^A STREET MELEE — ^ABORIGINAL
CHIEFTAINS — OLD HERO BENEVOLENCE —
LACQUER TREES.

^

HE moment the West Gate was swung
open, at exactly seven in the morning,
my curious caravan filed out of the
busy city of Suifu. Fifteen minutes
before, I had left the comfortable
quarters of the American Baptist
Mission. A dressed stone arch, erect-
ed to the memory of virtuous widows,
spanned Ta Chio Street, beyond
which we turned a comer with the
temple of the god of Literature on the right. My
overland procession was composed of two limber
bamboo mountain chairs, four short, stout coolies,
eight thin soldiers and two Yamen Runners. It made
a pronounced impression, not the least impressive
feature being the foreigners dressed in the garb of
their native lands. Early risers occupied their time
posting red strips of paper containing characters for
New Year time, on their doorposts. After passing
through Heavenly Bath, the highway extended be-
tween fields, irrigated and rowing marsh grass in

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148 HUMAN TREADMILLS

tufts. Human-power treadmills, framed to admit
two coolies when at work, were in use hoisting water
to the higher levels. Thus we were soon fairly off on
the paved road leading to the capital, on which, it is
said, one hundred thousand coolies carry burdens.

As we approached the village of Cedar Streams, a
squad of eighteen rifles bearing four square flags, and
two long angelic trumpets, met us. They fired a salute,
then turned and escorted us in great style to the
Gospel Hall, where a banquet was prepared for us.
This compliment would have been more appreciated
had it required less precious time. Only two Chris-
tians live in the town, but so fast has the Good News
spread that a full hundred have registered their
names as enquirers. The two faithful members and
various prominent men presided over the arrange-
ments. After a long delay, a monster metal basin
appeared containing a whole fowl, beak and all, two
slabs of pork, and slices of something covered with
bread crumbs. This ponderous dish was promptly
followed by divers v^etable sweets. The welcome was
royal, and the converts and enquirers impressed me
with their gentlemanly bearing and intelligence.

" Peaceful Slope " is ninety leagues from Suifu.
One coolie got stuck in the fine sand near the place,
but we sent a relief party and got him out. This
small city lies between the River of Golden Sand and
the Horizontal Stream, Hankiang at the junction.
Here is a Gospel Hall and one hundred and twenty en-
quirers, who are mostly of the sensible middle class.
A messenger had been despatched to request that boats
be ready to take us on a fifty li trip up the Horizontal
Stream, but so curious were the people to see more of
us that they neglected that important business. We
soon came up and secured two craft. The authorities

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A WAYSIDE INN 149

told off eleven riflemen and eight trackers to accom-
pany us. A week before, a missionary had been
attacked by thirty roughs and only escaped by dis-
playing suggestively a repeating rifle. We were now
out of the track of foreign travel. The water of the
Horizontal Stream is so pure and clear that the round-
ed pebbles on the bottom can be seen. The contrast of
this stream with the yellow Yangtze is most pleasing.
The river is not over one hxmdred yards wide, and the
swift waters flow along graceful slopes and through
rugged mountains. On the steep sides of the hills, in
all sorts of impossible situations, are small mud huts
surrounded with bamboo in beautiful groves.

The skipper of the strange craft in which I was trav-
elling had an earnest face, but no upper teeth, which
gave his nose the appearance of being about to fall
into his mouth. Once he shouted to the trackers,
" Step out, you will get there if you go on." Twenty
li further on, we ascended the Crystal Rapids, Min
Tan. Here is a small thatched lean-to inn, where re-
cently a murder was committed. It is the old story
of two partners ; one killed the other to obtain all the
silver. The mother of the victim asked the partner
what had become of her son. He feigned ignorance.
But murder will out, even in China. She employed a
trusty coolie, who, with an accomplice, traced the
guilty man and brought him one night to this lean-to
inn. Th^ drank wine with him, and in the dull dark-
ness of the early morning enticed him along the lonely
rugged path, where they stabbed him and flung his
bleeding body into the Crystal Rapid. Night fell be-
fore we reached the landing stage, and the last few
H were done in the dark. Once we bumped on a rock,
but these river boats are made with plank with plenty
of " give " in them, or we should have gone down. On

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ISO ROCK CAVES

the shore some people were having a bonfire of paper
money for the dead to pay their fare with in the spirit
land. A large escort was awaiting us at the village of
Huangkiang, and we were conducted to Shining Glory
Inn, where a sumptuous meal was prepared, beds
draped and everything done up in more than Celestial
style. The place boasts twenty temples and one school
supported by public subscription, one thousand fam-
ilies, twenty medicine shops and ten undertakers' es-
tablishments. The Gospel Hall is without members,
but has eighty enrolled enquirers. We had come two
" stages," as the coolies term it, to-day. A stage in
Central China is ninety li.

The second day out of Suifu takes one from Huan-
kiang to Taitingchang. We made a good start, and
did not get Early Rice till nine o'clock. Two hours
later we came upon a series of Cliflf Houses. It was
near the summit of Rat Mountain that I discovered
these interesting relics of past ages. A little way be-
yond Fire-Burning-Place, Ho Shao Tien, situated on
the summit ridge of the lofty mountain and a few yards
below the road, is a series of perpendicular rock faces,
in which are cut a dozen doors some three feet high
and eighteen inches wide. One of the projecting
bosses of rock had been carved into the shape of a
human face, of which the door formed the mouth, a
projecting part the nose, and on either side of the an-
gle of rock eyes and eyebrows were cut. The chamber
into which one of these openings led was octagonal in
shape, four feet high and ten feet across. On the out-
side, by the doors of all the Cliff Houses, figures have
been cut bearing a marked resemblance to Egyptian
design. The figures are evidently war gods, for in
a firm grasp they carry battle-axes with a spike op-
posite the blade. Some of the figures are in profile

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ANCIENT SCULPTURE 151

with the feet turned out, and they wear accordion-
pleated kilts down to the knees. This, instead of be-
ing in long, straight pleats, is in seven rows of tucks.
Other faces are full, and I noticed one with oblique
eyes. Some figures stand out in relief; others are in-
ferior and engraved on the stone. Some are almost
obliterated ; others are in a good state of preservation.
The man at the Fire Burning Place was a new ar-
rival, and knew little about the caves, but said there
was a tradition that they were inhabited a thousand
years ago, but a purely Chinese estimate of time is
of little value. These barbarian cliff dwellers had an
eye to business. All the caves had a southern aspect
commanding an extensive view and are furnished with
large, heavy carved slabs to work in grooves as doors.
They are over four thousand feet above sea level, the
view from them being one of the finest I have seen
anywhere. The air is wonderfully pure and bracing,
and the ancient cliff dwellers must have been a hardy
race of men. Leaving these interesting relics of the
dim past, we descended into the valley. At a tea
shop, one of the soldiers, having a disagreement with
a coolie, said to him, " Curse your ancestors." That
day I had covered fully one hundred li over moun-
tains. Just before we arrived at the All-Three-Inn, the
owner went with his valuables to a fortress on a hill
for the night. The building is very large, sandwiched
in between the rapid river and a wall of rock. The
architecture suggests a temple, a comfortable place in
which to spend the night if you wear Chinese garments.
On the following day we got off at the usual hour
and stopped at the Heavenly Rapids for Early Rice
at nine a.m. I like to walk about thirty H before
breakfast. It was exactly seven-forty-five by my watch
when we crossed the line separating the two Provinces

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152 THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW BAG

of Szechuen and Yunnan. The line, a vine trained
to hang there as a boundary mark, was suspended from
a ledge of rocks about three hundred feet high.
This was the first time I had met with such a thing,
as lines of this kind are usually imaginary, but the
Chinese are practical people, and I was told that the
vine had been planted and trained by the civil author-
ities. I saw snow on the Mountains of Yunnan, a
beautiful sight, with mists floating just above the white
line. And here I was in another of the great divisions
of the Celestial Empire. When I stopped for Early
Rice all the coolies came up except the man with the
yellow bag containing my valuable papers and large
camera. We feared that he had been attacked by rob-
bers, and I became anxious. One of the runners said
that the missing coolie had hired another to carry the
bag and had afterwards fallen down a cliff. This
sounded like robbery. So I shouldered the repeating
rifle, and Old Hero Benevolence took his musket, and
we went off in search. Mr. Wellwood enlisted some
men, and finally caught up with us. I had noticed
a man like mine leave the big road and disappear up
the mountain. " Robbery sure enough," I said^ " and
one of the rascals is escaping." We imited our forces
at a thatched tea house on the edge of a ravine, and
went on ten li, when we discovered the bag. The
carrier had fallen, and the bow-legged coolie, instead
of bringing it into the village, had waited till he
could get someone else to carry it for him. The
soldier gave him a severe cuffing for his stupidity. For
some natives there is nothing like the Argumentum
ad baculum.

During the day we came into the cactus section.
All the time the scenery has been grand. I had gone
a hundred and twelve li that day, walked all the way,

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TOMBS OF THE MING DYNASTY 153

and still found myself fresh. Twenty li north of Sing-
gee Pin, where I was to spend the night in the Great-
Large-Prospect Inn, is the village of all ears, Pu Erh
Tu, where are some of the tombs of the Ming Dy-
nasty. There is a remarkable one near the village.
Among a large number of tombs some have been built
at great expense; one cost over ten thousand ounces
of silver, and contains the body of a chieftain and his
six quiet wives. The interior is of fine design, the
roof arched, and the sides of carved lattice work. The
entrance is into a chamber, then follow a succession
of chambers, the corridor being through carved arch-
ways which present a fine appearance. These tombs
are in out-of-the-way places, to avoid being destroyed,
the barbarous custom of one dynasty, upon coming
into power, being to destroy the tombs of the former
dynasty. Some wealthy men have been known to hire
labourers from a distance ; while others, after the com-
pletion of a magnificent sepulchre, would arrange a
banquet in the inner chamber in commemoration of
its completion, invite all the workmen, fill them with
wine, and then seal up the entrance that none might
tell the story of the location and the magic doors.
This method is similar to the system adopted by the
ancient Kings of Sardis. It was an ancient custom
of the Chinese to dispatch their wives and slaves of
the man who died; but that is now done by paper
proxy. The Chinese are great believers in proxy; in-
deed, were it not for proxy they would find it difficult
to get on politically, socially, or religiously. Next to
Confucius, the Chinese admire proxy. At Chinese
fimerals it is an ordinary sight to witness the carrying
in procession of many paper figures, which are subse-
quently burned. These represent the wives, servants,
and slaves, and are to furnish him with a household in

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154 A STREET MELEE

the land of the spirits. The Chinaman is a good exam-
ple of the " pagan suckled in a creed outworn."

On the last day of the Old (Chinese) Year, the peo-
ple were making great preparations, and many a chicken
had crowed his last challenge. There was a fight in
the street near the inn that evening, and we stopped
it. Later another occurred, the incentive being filthy
lucre. A pigtail tried to collect a debt, and the debtor
gQt some militiamen to side with him. The creditor
was pounced upon and would likely have been killed
but for the timely intervention of Mr. Wellwood, who
jumped into the mob to assist the poor fellow, who
was down. In the dim light a native, not discerning
that a foreigner was there, drew a dagger. When I
came up and saw the glint of steel, I thought it was
meant for the missionary, and promptly took a hand
in the row. First I grabbed two Chinamen by the
throat, and flung them off, and then took another with
a round turn. I believe in a round turn; at college
I was taught that curved lines are more beautiful than
straight. The ruffian turned on me, but having seen
the kind of weapon he handled, I thought it was time
for business. The flash of the nickel plate and the
persuasiveness of the open barrel pointing toward him
were too much, and the fellow ran out into the night
as if the chief of the spirits were after him. This row^
is a sample of what happens in every part of China on
this night. Many will commit suicide because of debt ;
others will run away, and still others will be hunting
for those who owe them money.

It was only after no ordinary amount of persuasion,
and the promise of special terms, that my men had
agreed to go seventy li to-day, seeing that it was the
holiday of all the year. So we made a short march,
intending to make up for it during the following days

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DISASTER AT HEN RIVER 155

by long stages. We went to Cormorant Rapids in
good form, and gave the coolies a present of pork.
All day we travelled along a beautiful river, beholding
scenery that was becoming more and more rugged
and grand. The village at the Rapids has a popula-
tion of some three thousand souls. Anthracite coal is
found near by, and is sold at the rate of one hundred
and sixty cash for twenty catties. Here is a suspen-
sion bridge built of iron eye-bars, which I photo-
graphed. A few years ago, on the evening of the Drag-
on Festival in the fifth Moon the bridge was crowded to
witness a competition in the Hen River, of boats, for
live ducks flung from the bridge by wealthy residents.
At one exciting point there was a general lunge of the
people to the north side of the bridge. A weak bar
on that side snapped, and then the people rushed back
to the other side, whereupon a large bar on that side
broke, and, with a tremendous crash, accompanied
by terrific screams, the bridge gave way, and four
hundred were drowned. The casualty was so great on
account of the Cormorant Rapids just below, where
many a struggling victim was engulfed in the turbulent
waters. A man, holding a little son in his arms, was
standing on a parapet at the side. He became so
frightened by the disaster that he fell over the stone
work and was smashed to pieces on the rocks at the
bottom, but kept his arms so tightly around the child
that it was unhurt. The present bridge is unsafe, as
the inside of the iron bars is badly worked, and a sim-
ilar disaster might easily occur. I have come from
Suifu to this place in less than three and a half days.
The usual time is six days.

At six-thirty a.m., on the fifth day, we made the
start, as we had one hundred and twenty li to go
to-day and the road was mountainous. I said fare-

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156 A RARE EXPERIENCE

well to Wellwood of the American Baptist Mission, a
man who has adopted a vigorous policy and is doing
a very successful work. Wellwood is an honest and
helpful man. He one day offered me his square mir-
ror, which I politely refused, but later, got round a
comer and used my circular one, and was surprised
to find the very " tough " appearance presented by a
black sweater, " awfully " slouch hat, " dreadfully "
tan shoes, and some whipcord cloth which hung on
a frame work over six feet high. At night, in the inn,
a man holds a native candle right over the keys of
my typewriter to see them work, and others lean over
the table. I have gotten in ahead of the caravan, and
am not letting them know that I understand a word of
Chinese. It is a fine experience. I have to-day done
two days' travelling, and have passed the snow line,
the cloud line, and over a mountain four thousand feet
high, and am now having a good ending to the day.
I am being crammed with kindness. The Chinese
have never before seen a typewriter. The coolies are
bringing in the boxes. Just now I took the sheet out
of my machine and threw away the carbon paper.
Amazement sat all over their faces to think I could
write two at one time. The proprietor is now feeling
the buttons of my coat. He has dilated over the re-
peating rifle and looked over the hand camera and the
yellow bag. A neighbour brings in a chubby Chinese
baby to see the strange man with the strange machine.
It is great fun. They make large anxious eyes and
want to know about the things from distant lands.
Let the Chinese obtain a Western civilization minus
the Western extravagance and they will wake up this
old planet. This village is in the mountains, and there
being no fire-pot, I am writing and shivering with cold.
My fur coat is with the caravan. A boy of ten has

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DRAWING A PIG 157

come in. I made the Chinese salutation to him by
shaking hands with myself, but he got scared and ran
off. I called the Chinese word " come," and he re-
turned and made the bow, and all were pleased. This
is transpiring in a dingy room at the back end of an
open court occupied by fowls, swine and human fig-
ures. How easily could they have pushed me off a
precipice when I was travelling along the wild road
approaching this hamlet of the mountaineers, and,
were it Boxer time, my life might be sacrificed to the
mad rage of an angry mob. But usually the dwellers
on the Hills of T'ang are a kind, peaceful people. I
ordered supper by drawing a picture of a pig, but they
went off and returned with a piece of sooty meat which
once belonged to some wild animal and had been hang-
ing by a string in some smoky place. Was it tiger,
leopard or cos? I know not. Then my artistic pride
was aroused. The very idea that I should draw a
picture of a pig and not have it recognized by Pigtails
was "enthusing." Then I gathered myself together
and drew another picture of a pig like this —

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I was getting hungry, and in my despair I did my best,
and I am no mean artist, as the above efforts prove,
but they were perplexed more than ever. Then I
pointed to it and grunted, but of no avail. By and
by, I crowed like a rooster, or as nearly like it as
possible, but I struck a new species which they had
never heard. I next tried drawing an egg and crow-

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iS8 ABORIGINAL CHIEFTAINS

ing, but that failed too, so I returned to the picture of
a pig and made motion as if rooting in the ground.
Whereupon a man ran off and came back with a chimk
of pork. But how much did I want? I made signs
by pointing to the table where the visitors would sit.
They understood there would be three, but would they
eat as much as natives? Then off a fellow ran and
came back with scales. All this in my private room.
With a knife they indicated whether it should be cut lat-
itudinally or longitudinally, so I made a gesture and the
knife went through, after a long discussion. It was
weighed and signs made how much, but I failed in
reading their well-meant antics. All the while the
greatest good humor and desire to help me prevailed.

The views on " Pearl Mountain " rival Switzerland,
the invigorating air is not excelled in the Rockies, and
the houses of Gini Po are stone, and resemble those
in the villages of Shetland. The tea and other boxes
of goods going north on long lines of ponies and don-
keys were other incidents of a very full day.

In the course of the journey that followed from Gini
Po to Shin Gai, we passed many villages with square
towers. Indeed, the towers were a distinctive feature
of the landscape. There are thousands of them in
the Prefecture of Chowtung. They were built orig-
inally as a defence against the dreaded Mantze — a
semi-independent race living across the Yangtze in
Szechuen. On the way down we passed several for-
tified dwellings of the aboriginal diieftains who rule
over their domain almost independently of Chinese
control. Their retainers and families are in practical
slavery to them, and can be punished and, in some
cases, even killed without reference to Chinese law.
Some of the dwelling-places are in lofty and impreg-
nable situations. These people do not intermarry to

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SUPPRESSING A REBEL 159

any extent with the Chinese. They divide themselves
into two classes, the Black Bones and the White
Bones, the Blacks being the " blue bloods," who never
intermarry with the Whites.

All this day I had been going up, even when going
down. The River Ta Kuan (or Hen) was flowing in
the opposite direction. This river consists of a con-
stant succession of rapids, and the green water, with
dashes of snowballs in it, and the constant roar of the
rapids, combine to make it more interesting still. The
lofty mountains overlooking this stream, and covered
with snow, make a picture that would delight the heart
of a Turner. It was about ten-thirty a.m. when we
began to ascend the " New Road." To talk of a new
road in China, where the tracks date back thousands
of years, is startling. But here it is, built by the Tao-
ists, new and creditably. It consists partly of stone
steps. A third of the way up at one turning, a smiling
god makes the traveller forget his weariness. Half-way
to the top I stepped into a little tea house, and here
came upon four Taoist priests, who received me kindly,
furnished me with tea, and declined to be remunerated.

The Ta Kuan River here branches off, and is known
as the Ko Kuei. I took a photo at the fork. The
latter drains a beautiful lake in the Province of Kwei-
chow, and the view here is one of the finest I have seen
in China. At the junction of the two beautiful rivers
was once the grave of the mother of Li Tuan Tata
(the man with a short pigtail). This Li became
a famous and successful rebel during the present
dynasty, and wrought great damage in the Province
of Szechuen. As the Government soldiers were
wholly unable to cope with his skill and daring, many
consultations were held by the authorities, in order
to consider how best to deal with the doughty

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i6o TURTLE HILL

chieftain. They finally concluded to break the " fung
shut " by tearing open the grassy grave of his mother.
With savage delight the officials visited the point
where the Hen bifurcates, violated the grave and
" destroyed the corpse." By doing so the good luck
which came to the family as the result of burying on
the Dragon's pulse was destroyed! Soon after this
the rebel power was broken and the Great Leader
killed.

We stopped that night and Sunday at Shin Gai,
North, a miserable village of thirty families, where
the Evangelist Stephen preached to the people When
he had finished, an old man who was not a Christian,
but who was rather inclined to the new doctrine, read
to the people out of a book.

Leaving Shin Gai, North, on Monday, the cavalcade
took Early Rice at Takuan, a Prefectural city which
has never regained the glory it possessed before the
Great Rebellion. Only yellow dogs and black hogs
appeared to be alive. The shops were closed for New
Year, and the whole place, with its tumble-down
houses, presented a deserted appearance. The fur-
rows of " Stem Ruin's ploughshare " were evidenced
everywhere. The most conspicuous feature of the land-
scape at Takuan is Turtle Hill, on the summit of
which is a red tower and a white temple. The head of
this monster turtle is turned toward Yunnan, and the
popular superstition is that it absorbs the influences
which make for fertility and prosperity, in Yunnan,
and by some process of digestion manufactures the
solid riches and passes them out into the Province of
Szechuen. Hence the poverty of the former and the
wealth of the latter. To modify this as far as possible,
the temple has been erected on the back of the turtle,
and a reliable god put in charge.

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OLD HERO BENEVOLENCE i6i

Among the body-guard to whom my personal
safety had been entrusted by the Prefect Wen of
Suifu, and who were charged to conduct me to
Takuan, the headquarters of another Prefect, was
one Chen, a name in China similar to Smith. His
whole name meant " Old Benevolence," but he was
only twenty-nine years of age, and both his parents
were living. His military designation was Left
Company Second Class Suifu " Learn Army." After
four years' service he was getting only three thousand
cash a month, out of which he had to feed himself.
His uniform was that of the Suifu Guards, and out-
wardly consisted of a red coat with a belt. Big char-
acters on the front and back told the trembling civilian
what he was. His trousers were blue, while about the
ankles was tightly wound cloth of an indifferent colour.
His feet were encased in open straw sandals, and a
round hat nearly, if not quite, two feet in diameter hid
his pigtail. Under the outer belt he carried another,
three inches wide and full of partitions, in which his
valuables were stowed away.

I called him " Old Hero Benevolence," as soldiers
are referred to as heroes. He was a pure heathen,
but a kind one. At Takuan the new guard did not
put in an appearance, and so I refused to release the
Suifu Guards till the other men arrived. My escort,
however, forsook me at the East Gate, although I
had not given them my card to take back to the Pre-
fect at Suifu as evidence that they had performed
their duty; all except Old Hero Benevolence, who re-
mained steadfast. When he wanted to return, he made
obeisance by shaking hands with himself. I had not
done with him yet, so I refused to acknowledge
the formality. Then he gave the military salute of
dropping on one knee, but this I also waved away,

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i62 A KINDLY HEATHEN

Finally he tried the effect of falling upon his knees and
striking his head on the ground, but without avail. I
insisted that he should continue with me, and handed
him the great repeating rifle, which he had been proud
to carry. He shouldered it and strode off smiling. It
was another cold stretch of two hundred li, which he
had not bargained for, and for which no allowance
of money had been made him by the Prefect, yet he
moved off without grumbling or sulkiness. He has re-
mained with me from that moment. He has run with
me over the mountains, skipping like a deer to keep
ahead when I have been making time; he has lent
me cash when mine was exhausted; he has bought
things for me, taking the advantage a Chinaman al-
ways does when making a purchase, but that advantage
has gone to me. This is a remarkable experience. On
the cold mountains that day he paid for the pears
which I bought without having the money to settle
for, and then ate the core and was grateful for it.
Those rusty coat pears, three inches in diameter, cost
but eight cash each, or about one-third of an American
cent, but he could not afford such luxuries. He has
never attempted to take his meals until I have indi-
cated that he might do so, and his amiability has never
deserted him. In the early morning it has been Old
Hero Benevolence who has shouted, " Quick, quick,"
to the others, and on the road when the coolies carry-
ing my special baggage were lagging, his has been the
task to hurry them up. When I have been taking pho-
tographs, he has quieted the people. He was always
at my heels, or just before me, with that fifteen re-
peater. The other day I struck off, when the men were
resting, to take a picture, but Old Benevolence was after
me with that rifle. If a dog dared to molest me, the
butt-end of the rifle was promptly applied to the corre^

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A KIND WORD FOR THE CHINESE 163

spending end of the canine offender ! Truly, " Worth
makes the man, and want of it the fellow."

His kind face and cheerful smile I shall miss. I
was really sorry to part with him. As before stated,
he was a pure heathen, still I like heathen of his ilk.
He ate and smdced opium, drank wine, gambled with
dice and dominoes, worshipped Heaven and Earth, and
bowed before his favourite idol when passing it in a
wayside shrine. This idol was the " chief of the spir-
its," a hideous creature with two teeth like horns pro-
truding from the upper jaw, while in his extended left
hand an ugly sword was held. The whole aspect was
frightful. On New Year's Day he placed a cap on his
old musket and fired it off near the idol to let him know
that Old Hero Benevolence had not forgotten to hon-
our him; and yet with all these faults and follies, I
liked this bare-footed heathen hero. There are many
like him in China waiting to be saved from their super-
stitions. He asked for a remedy for opium eating;
poor fellow, he was genuinely anxious to be freed from
the dreadful slavery of the drug.

He was proud of carrying the great rifle, and when
I was not looking, he would take aim and imagine the
quarry had been bagged. When I fired the gun, he
would jump with delight for the empty cartridge shell.
If I ate the yoke out of a boiled egg, and give him the
shell containing the white, or left some bits of food
especially for him in the basin, so he could get it, he
was quite gratified. Poor heathen ! had he been bom
in a Christian land, reared in a home of culture and
had the advantage of a Western College, what might
he not have been? But he belonged to a race de-
spised by many of my coimtrymen! That race I
shall despise no longer. When I return home, even
the laundryman with his pigtail shall have kinder

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i64 GRATUITIES OF PORK

treatment, because on every hand these people have
been kind to me. And if only for Old Hero Benevo-
lence's sake, in foreign lands I must always have a
kind word for the Chinese people. The effect of
travel is always to teach one to " condemn the fault
and not the actor of it." One day Old Hero Benevo-
lence tried to get me to stop ten li short of where I
had decided to rest for the night, but when I spoke
the final word, he was off with a good grace. Maybe
he hoped to profit by his obedience; if so he was not
to be disappointed. But that is not all. It is true
that the day before the New Year he turned, smiled,
and said in very respectful language, " We are going
to take your Excellency from one year into another,
and we hope to enjoy your Excellency's grace." Had
he said " Your Excellency's grease " to make the way
easy from one year to another, it would have meant
the same. It was pork they expected, as a treat for
working on the one day of the whole year, when every
Chinaman stops work and salutes. I did not want the
bother of getting pork for them myself, so gave them
the " wherewithal " to get it themselves, and they
seemed perfectly satisfied.

Seeing him so prompt and hearty, I early picked
out Old Hero Benevolence from the others and hon-
oured him with plenty of work. He never waited for
me to ask him to carry my long coat, but offered to
do it himself; and when it was supposed that robbers
had stolen my yellow bag, it was he who went back
with me, seized the offending coolie by the pigtail and
batted him over the head, lecturing him the while. He
has not hesitated on the cold mountain roads to go
on, although his feet were sore. I do not believe his
motives were entirely sordid, but if they were partly
so, it is no wonder, and keeps him in the human race.

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RESULTS OF CAPTURING A TIGER 165

I prefer to remember only the good in him. After the
good missionary Pollard, at Chowtung, had given him
some anti-opium medicine and told him about the
God of the Christians, and I had given him a large
reward of a string of " Big " cash, he would not per-
mit a horseman to pass me without dismounting; and
returned to Suifu, there to end his days in the service
of the Mandarins. Old Hero Benevolence, fare thee
well!

Just beyond Takuan the River Hen disappears. At
the foot of a high hill is the village of " The Cave of
the Floating Water" (Chuh Shui Tong), where the
river of Laowatan, or Takuan, or Hen, as it is vari-
ously called, seems to burst from the living rock. At
the top of the hill, near the village of Wuchai, the river
enters a subterranean channel and passes out at the
bottom. In the middle of the afternoon we passed
through the demolished village of Wuchai. Last year
a tiger was captured near this hamlet. A night or
two afterwards a fire broke out and destroyed the en-
tire village. The fire is said to have broken out " at
the head and tail of each house at the same time." The
people think that the fire was the revenge taken by
the spirits on the tiger. Regarding the site of Wuchai
as unlucky, most of the people have moved to a place
ten li further south. They were encouraged to do this
by an enterprising landlord who offered to furnish
all the buildiing materials, simply taking in return a
yearly rent. The landlord of the burnt village resented
this, and went to law over the matter, but the case
was decided in favour of the new landlord, who, in
consequence, has a nice annual income. In New
Street (Sin Kai South) I spent the night. That is the
new village built as the result of the tiger episode.
We had come one hundred and ten li. Sin Kai South

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i66 AN AGED CONVERT

is a new, busy place in a valley over five thousand feet
above the tide.

On the journey to Chowtung I noticed many trees
resembling the ash. They are the valuable lacquer
trees. Every year the bark is cut in a different place,
and the exuding juice is used to make the fine Chinese
lacquer. When a tree has been sufficiently bled, it is
cut down and used for building purposes.

While passing the village of Tsuan Kee about two
P.M., I stopped to purchase some brown sugar cakes.
In a shop window was a foreign Christmas card, and
on the wall the Lord's Prayer in English. This is a
famous village. It is here the great Chowtung North
Wind starts. It gets a move on too. I tock the tem-
perature of it as it passed into my bones, and found
on a Fahrenheit thermometer that it registered twenty
degrees. An old man of seventy, a confectioner, became
a Christian there four years ago. His grandson was
in training for the native ministry, and gave great
promise, but was taken ill, and, after three wedcs,
died. The old man attended him carefully during his
illness, and finally knelt down at his bedside and
prayed, " Let him follow me to my grave and not me
to his." There are three families in this village who
have destroyed their idols as the result of this old
man's example, and I was proud to buy sugar cakes in
his shop.

" A light to guide, a rod
To check the erring, and reprove."

I reached Chowtung at five p.m., having come from
Suifu in less than seven and a half days. This journey
usually takes thirteen days.

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Anybody can g€t an A.B. But an M.A man is like a needle
picked up from the bottom of the sea.— Cfirren!| Proverb,

CHAPTER XL

A mandarin's view of copper mining — ^BAR-
BARITIES TO CHILDREN — ^THE GODS OF CHOWTUNG

CHINESE SINGING — GAMBLING DEATH TO

THE UNFILIAL — ^SHRINE OF THE MAGIC PEN

THE TEMPLE OF HELL — ^INFANTICIDE.

''HREE H north of the city of Chow-
tung, while walking on the good,
hard earth of the Great North
Road, I was met by Mr. Samuel
Pollard, of the Bible Christian
Mission, who gave me a real
Cornish welcome, and invited me
to stop with him for any time up
to two years, when he is entitled
^pgjgo^jn, to a visit home. Mr. Pollard is

one of the best foreign speakers
of the Chinese language in Western China, and, as a
missionary, is respected and admired by foreigners and
natives. He has been very successful in his chosen
work, and speaks to crowded houses. Merchants, lit-
erary men, and coolies of this, the second most impor-
tant, city of the Province of Yunnan, come to hear him.
It was in very pleasant company that I entered the city,
on the way to which we passed the Northern Com-
pound of the French Catholic Mission about two li

:^. (n

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i68 SECOND-HAND COFFINS

outside the city wall. There are four gates, and just
before reaching the North Gate, which I entered, we
stopped to look at the Drill Ground. This place was
once the scene of an amusing incident. Two Japanese
engineers were employed by the Chinese officials to
work the copper mines in the neighbourhood. The
officials wished to test their knowledge of hidden min-
eral wealth, to do which they secretly dug a hole by
the Drill Ground, and deposited a thousand round
copper cash. Later on the officials took the engineers
out on a tour of inspection, and coming as if by acci-
dent to this spot, they asked if this was a good place
for copper. The engineers answered " No." Where-
upon the sceptical Mandarins ordered their servants
to dig up the cash, and produced it as proof of the
ignorance of the experts. This fact being established,
the engineers were dismissed.

Between the Drill Ground and the city is the mis-
cellaneous graveyard, Luan Fen Yuan, an immense
area. During hard times — and the times are generally
" hard " — coffin boards are stolen by b^gars and re-
sold to coffin makers. Very little notice is taken of
such insignificant matters as second-hand coffins.
Here wolves and dogs feast on the fresh bodies of the
poor, who are interred in cheap and fragile boxes.
Near this Field of the Dead is a hole often used for
the burial of children. The death of a young boy is a
cause of great sorrow to the parents. When the evil
spirit is released, it is supposed to enter the body of
the next child that is bom. In order to prevent its
return, the parents will often mutilate the little body
and bury it at the cross-roads near by. I saw in the
home of the missionary a young girl whose father had
mutilated two children in this way. Another plan to
pre\'ent the second coming of the evil spirit is to tic

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THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE 169

an egg and some mustard seed to the body of the dead
child, in the belief that the evil spirit will not appear
until the egg hatches and the seed sprouts. The astute
and anxious parents carefully boil the tgg and the seed
in order to postpone the date indefinitely.

Entering the North Gate we turned sharply to the
left and ascended the city wall. Along the way we
passed two of the finest temples in the Prefecture,
the one to Confucius and the other to Kwan Ti, the
God of War. Just beyond these stand the conspicu-
ous tower of the Temple of Literature, which was
struck by lightning two years ago. The bolt entirely
destroyed the huge metal pen-point which is supposed
to attract lucky influences from the clouds. It is
needless to add that the superstitious Chinese hastily
added a new point to preserve the equilibrium ! Com-
ing down through a broken part of the wall into
" Great Horse Place Street '' (Ta Ma Fang), we met
an ox-cart bearing a huge black coffin. This coffin
was for a member of the Protestant Church, a woman
who had just died. A little child, bom a month
before, was killed by an accident, and the mother was
taken ill, and all remedies failed to restore her. " In-
satiate archer! could not one suffice ? " The husband
was much grieved, but he had been a brave Christian
for years and stood firm in his belief. His heathen
friends tried every means to get him to call in a
devil-driver to exorcise the evil spirits who caused
the trouble. He declared that he would never worship
the devil, even if the whole family died. The day
after my arrival the funeral was held, in the presence of
a large assembly. When the service was ended, the
husband and other Christians stood up and said,
" Come here, all you people of the Three Religions,
and see if Mrs. Li's eyes have been gouged out; see

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170 THE GODS OF CHOWTUNG

if her neck has been twisted back; see if her legs and
arms have been smashed between boards; look closely
at her and never more believe these lies about dead
Qiristians. Don't be afraid, come forward and see."
Several came and " looked closely."

The Bible Christian Mission House fronts " The
Collection of Worthies Street " (and was built more
than a hundred years ago to accc«nmodate the cap-
tive prince of one of the small states on the North of
Siam. The street formerly took its name from the
country of this prince, and was called " The Street of
the Mung " (Mung Tze Kai). He was held as a host-
age by the Chinese, but managed to escape. Relays
of horses were provided by his friends, by means of
which he out-distanced all pursuers and safely reached
his home. At the Mission House I was heartily greet-
ed, and welcomed by the wife of the missionary and his
two fine boys, one of whom had already mastered two
books of Euclid, although not yet nine years of age.

Chowtung has its religious interests well provided
for, and gods are plentiful. Scores of heathen temples
rise on every hand, dedicated to an assortment of gods
reaching all the way from the opium-smeared deities
and other small fry to the " Pearly Emperor " who
occupies the topmost niche in the Pantheon. There
IS also a Moslem Mosque without a minaret. There
are two hundred families of Mohammedans inside the
city, and several mullahs call the faithful to prayer.
Many of the Mohammedans areengaged in the fur trade.

The French Catholic Mission has hundreds of con-
verts. Recently they finished a beautiful chapel built
with indemnity money. The building is of foreign
brick with stone trimmings. Between the two squat
towers looms up a monster cross from the gable. The
foreign priest occupies a comfortable residence and is

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CHINESE SINGING 171

on friendly terms with the Protestants. The Bishop
recently deposed a Mad Priest who had issued pro-
clamations against the Protestants, and officially apol-
ogized for the bad behaviour of his subordinate.

The clay subsoil of Chowtung makes it difficult to
dig deep, and the Roman Catholics had much trouble
with the base foundations of their heavy building.
The Bible Mission House, in common with other build-
ings in the city, has charcoal let into the foundations
for the purpose of absorbing moisture. The Catholics
have divided this Prefecture into six parts, and have
a missionary in charge of each.

The Protestants have thirty members and many hun-
dreds of enquirers. Among the members are bright
young women who have suffered persecution because
they have insisted on unbinding their feet and re-
fusing to marry heathen. On one occasion six literary
men, before a large congregation, avowed faith in
Christ! Two acres of land outside the city have
been purchased by the Bible Christians for a training
school. Six new workers are expected soon. I have
attended evening services here, and on each occasion
the chapel has been packed ; indeed, a larger building
is urgently needed. The attendance of men was much
greater than that of women, a condition of things
which is general throughout China. Everyone took
part in the singing, but there was a lack of decision
as to which tune should be used. The native organist
used one, and everyone in the audience sang to his own
tune, the time in most cases being conspicuous by its
absence. But all tried to sing, and there was ''one
heart " if not one tune.

" It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind.
In body and in soul can bind."

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172 ANCIENT MOUND DWELLINGS

When the eloquent missionary, Pollard, preached,
the literary men, the merchants, the coolies, and, in
fact, all classes, listened with the closest attention. Be-
yond all question the efforts made by the missionaries
here are making a profound impression on the city !

Chowtung is certainly a city of expanding prosper-
ity. The ancient name of it was Yumeng, which was
given to it when it was held by the aborigines. It
was conquered by the Chinese in the early part of the
present dynasty, the decisive battle being fought at
Camp Hill (Yin Pan Shan) to the east of the city.
Great forests formerly occupied the plateau on which
the city now stands. By some mighty upheaval these
forests were submerged, and now the city has an enor-
mous quantity of half-formed coal. Various utensils
used by man are frequently found embedded in the
coal, which seems to prove that the formation was
arrested. In the examinations I have made of some
of this coal, I have found that the knots of the tree
had not changed, only the branches and the trunk hav-
ing become coal. Other features of this great plateau,
which our aneroid registered as six thousand two
hundred feet above the tide, are the remains of
mound dwellings. The plain is dotted with them.
Burnt bricks found in them contain certain sym-
metrical figures. The natives say that, in those early
days, wild beasts were so rampant and dangerous
that people were compelled to build underground, leav-
ing only a small entrance. Even now wolves exist in
large numbers, and often devour children, and some-
times attack men. Leopards and tigers range at will
through the country.

Chowtung is the important place for trade with the
rich Province of Szechuen. Cloth and salt are the
principal imports, and medicines, the wax insect,

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NEW YEAR'S GAMBLING 173

and copper are the chief exports. The city and sub-
urbs have a population of thirty thousand, under the
administration of civil officials, a Prefect and Magis-
trate, and a military Brigadier-General. The Pre-
fecture is ten days' travel in length and six days' in
width, and has not much fewer than one million in-
habitants. Several races of people exist in the neigh-
borhood, among which are the I Ren, commonly
called Lolo, a term which they resent, as it means
the little basket in which they keep the tablets of
their deceased forefathers and which they worship.
Here are also the Mizo Tsz, an inoffensive people who
are chiefly distinguished for their avoidance of law-
suits and for their prejudices against stealing and b^-
ging. This race often serve as slaves to the I Ren.
The third race, who live a three days' journey from the
city, is the Ba Bu Ren, also nicknamed Man Tsz,
which means Wild Men. Mention should be made of
the Mohammedans, who really are a separate race, the
offspring of Persian Arabs and Chinese women. They
still retain certain distinctive features, the bridges of
their noses marking them as non-Chinese.

The lawless interregnum, which was recognised in
some ancient Eastern countries upon the death of a
king before the new monarch was crowned, has its echo
here in Chowtung. Going out of the East Gate, we
noticed a proclamation in large black letters on white
paper, telling the people that as the five days during
which gambling is allowed at the Chinese New Year
were ended, gambling must cease. Little notice was
taken of this by the people, for we passed several groups
of gamblers in the open street. At New Year, men,
women and children in almost ever)' home gamble.
Close to this gambling proclamation, and as if related
to it, was a placard by a Christian B.A., which gave

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174 PUNISHMENT OF THE UNFILIAL

a long account of foreign trusts and syndicates. A
few weeks before, some men had started a coal monop-
oly under the patronage of high officials. The whole
city resented this arrangement. There was a general
coal strike which threatened famine at the coldest
time of the year. The monopolists excused themselves
to the people by saying that they were compelled to
get money to enable the Government to pay up the
Foreign Indemnity, thus throwing the blame on the
foreigners. The people took the cue and prepared for
a general attack on Christmas Eve. An appeal to
the Prefect, who is on friendly terms with the mis-
sionaries and who hated the monopolists, probably be-
cause none of the profits came into his pockets, averted
the calamity. This magnate, glad to have the excuse
that the foreigners were threatened, broke up the
monopoly, and now the missionaries are given credit
for delivering the people from a cumbersome tax. The
notice on trusts. was stuck up at the four gates, and
gave the populace a fair and intelligent idea of
the working of monopolies in Western lands. Young
Americans might learn some valuable lessons on trusts
in Chowtung. Near this same East Gate lived a
family, one of whose members took to gambling. The
father tried to stop him, but all to no purpose. At
last, in anger, he threatened to strangle the boy, say-
ing to his offspring, " The Old Man will string you
to death." A few days later he carried out the threat.
No official notice was taken of this crime, as the father
in China has the power of life and can put to death
an unfilial son. This is sometimes done by bury-
ing the offender alive. Not long ago a young gambler
at Suifu was in need of money to pay his debts.
To relieve his distress, he stole from his home
His step-mother objected. The angry gambler

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THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE 175

resented her interference and mortally wounded her
with a knife. The relatives immediately gathered
together, held a rough trial, and decided that this un-
filial son should be buried alive. The sentence was
immediately put into force, and the case was reported
to the officials. A Mandarin was degraded by the
higher powers in consequence of the disgraceful act
of the son. Had he been tried by due process of law,
and found guilty of aggravated tmfilial conduct, a
portion of the city wall would have been broken down.
Thus the relatives saved the city an additional dis-
grace.

Chowtung is full of interest. To-day, the eighth
Sun of the first Moon of the Rabit (twenty-ninth year
of Kwang Hsu) I took a stroll about the city with
Mr. Pollard. We went up the " Collection-^f-
Worthies-Street,'* down " The Great-Gathering
Street," past the miserable looking powder magazine,
and up to the temple of the god of Literature (Wen
Chang Miao). There is a fine tower in the grounds
which had been partially destroyed by lightning. I
had some difficulty, at first, in chasing away the dogs
and black hogs which had taken undisputed possession
of these Confucian precincts. A great crowd, con-
stantly increasing, accompanied us to The Temple of
Hell, which is at present given up to the training of
the local militia. Batches of fifty yoimg men under-
go a course of three months' instruction there getting
as pay a little over two taels per Moon. Two large
horses guard the entrance to this temple. These four-
footed custodians of the dead are said to possess human
instincts and affections; and their responsibilities as
guardians of Hell certainly do not appear to have
destroyed their taste for mundane pleasure, for on
a certain night one of them broke loose and captured

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176 THE TEMPLE OF HELL

one of the young women of the city, taking her
into Hades to be his wife, at least so the story
goes. The young girl died, and the divines spotted
the equine cause. In order to stop any further excur-
sions, the City Magistrate nailed the horse to his
position.

Beyond the horse, a great courtyard opens out.
This is the Drill Ground of the militia. Aroimd this
courtyard are chambers open on one side, and filled
with representations of the tortures of Hell. A fence
is arranged so as to prevent the young Celestials from
making too free with the figures. Here can be seen
the hill Wang Hsiang Tai, from whence the dead take
a last look at their homes. Further on is situated the
Narrow Bridge, over which all souls must pass, so
narrow that few get over safely. In the river under the
bridge are monsters waiting to devour the unfortunate
pedestrians who fall into the water.

Having been mutilated by these monsters, the
wind of hell blows on the suffering souls and brings
them to life again to take their journey through the
next Chamber of Horrors. In one comer is a special
chamber reserved for women only, consisting of a
river of blood, through which all mothers have to
pass as a punishment for the crime of maternity ! At
the end of these apartments stands an old woman
selling the soup that muddles the soul, the waters of
Lethe! This induces forgetfulness in the spirits.
After drinking of the old hag's potion, the spirits are
re-incarnated. I saw here one spirit embodied ajS half
woman and half turtle. The turtle represents the acme
of bestiality and immorality. At tiie end of all is
a huge idol with face besmeared with a drug, his
devotees having provided him with a feast of liquid
opium. It is commonly reported that opium has

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THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD 177

taken a firm hold in Hades! Truly, Chinese " imag-
inations are as foul as Vulcan's stithy." All the para-
phernalia of opium smoking is often provided for the
gods. Little of the real opium, however, goes to these
divinities, a decoction made from the skin of pigs
being substituted, as the Chinese like the opium too
much themselves to waste it on the denizens of the next
world.

Passing through a gateway, we came to the abode
of Pluto, who presides over the spirits of the dead
Chowtung people who enter his domains. This po-
tentate is not always the occupant of this office, being
often changed and exalted to higher rank, or even
deposed for some misdemeanour. There were two im-
ages of this god here, one large and the other small.
The smaller image does by proxy all the visiting that
the god of Hell makes. He is carried in procession
around the streets, for the Chinese are too smart to
carry a large, heavy god when a light, small one will
answer the same purpose. These gods are named re-
spectively, "The Sitting God" and the "Walking
God." When a person dies the Chinese say " Sheng
Tien," that is, "He has ascended to heaven," but
they always seek the spirits of the dead in the Temple
of Hades, as after all they seem to conclude that is
the more likely place for them if they are rewarded
according to their just deserts. The death of every-
one is supposed to be due to this Pluto. The relatives
of the dead person often resent the deeds of the god
of Hell. On one occasion a mother was so angry at
the death of her son that she seized a knife and went
forth to slay the offending deity. When a severe
drought continues, the officials have been known to
take the god whose business it was to look after the
rain supply, andset him in the burning sun to experience

M

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178 SHRINE OF THE MAGIC PEN

what heat is and what the people suffer, on the princi-
ple, presumably, that

" Those who inflict must suffer, for they see
The work of their own hearts, and that must be
Our chastisement or recompense."

The crowd that followed us had been kept outside
the temple by the militia, but as we left the place, they
came after us to see what we were going to do. In that
I was myself greatly interested. The market place in
the centre of the town is part of the grounds of the
Brigadier-General. Here a tragedy was once enacted
as the outcome of a plot of desperate men to seize the
city. Early one morning, hundreds of them gained
possession of the place, slaughtering all who opposed
them. The valiant General then in chai^ge of the Mil-
itary District of Chowtimg showed the better part of
his valour by running away. This miniature rebel-
lion, however, was soon scotched, for the people rose
en masse, and in turn murdered all the rebels. The
fate of the leader, Mao San Ho, is shrouded in mystery.
Some say he was killed, others that he escaped. But
before noon the whole thing was over, so that the late
risers were in blissful ignorance of the crisis the city
had passed through. The widow of the rebel leader was
flung into prison soon after she had given birth to a
son, and the two are still kept in durance, lest the son
should attempt to avenge his father's death by another
coup. The widow is in fairly good circumstances, as
she has opened a small pawn shop in the prison yard.

The Shrine of the Magic Pen is a raised and covered
platform approached by stone steps. Here seances are
held, and communications are reported from spirits by
means of the magic pen. Usually these communica-
tions are worked by two confederates, the meditmi
holding the pen and writing cabalistic figures on a tray

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A NATION OF SPIRITUALISTS 179

of sand, his confederate reading the hieroglyphics and
reducing them to legible writing. The people of Chow-
tung are mostly spiritualists, and enquire of the dead
on a multitude of occasions, for which purpose the
Magic Pen is largely in demand. Indeed, to the Chi-
nese the whole country is filled with spirits of the de-
parted. There is but the thinnest partition, a sheet of
paper, as the people say, between the living and the
dead. The spirits of the defunct are more powerful
than the living, and their influence is felt in all depart-
ments of life. The creaking of houseboards, the
squeaking of rats, the " singing " of the kettle, the sput-
tering of boiling rice or the rustling of the leaves in the
wind are all manifestations of the spirit world. All
pain and even the smallest misfortunes are attributed
to malign forces. It is a common sight among all
classes of people to see one of the women of the house-
hold engaged in the following mummery with a basin
of water and three chop-sticks: — The handles of the
chop-sticks are dipped in water and then reversed, the
points standing in the water and the handles held
between the finger and thumb. Then the person rap-
idly runs over a list of names of all who have died in
connection with the family, pausing for a moment at
each name to loosen the grip on the chop-sticks. Some-
times the chop-sticks stand up, and this is supposed
to be evidence that the dead person whose name hap-
pened to be mentioned at the moment, is angry with
the family, and causes some member of it to feel pain
somewhere in the body.

From the Shrine of the Magic Pen we sauntered
over to the South Gate of the city and descended the
well-kept wall which, inside the battlements, at this
point consists of a promenade level enough for a bicy-
cle track. On passing a tower of observation half-way

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i8o A BRUTAL MISTRESS

between the South and West Gates, I saw the naked
body of a child, about five years old, lying face down-
ward at the bottom of the tower among the rubbish.
These structures, several of which are on the city
wall, are largely used as receptacles for the bodies of
dead children. Unless destroyed in some other way,
the bodies remain there until they decay. Skulls and
bones are often seen in these places. The bodies of
children are not allowed to be buried in the family
plot, that distinction being reserved for older people.
If heathenism inculcates great respect for old age, it
entirely fails to define the true position of children, who
are often treated barbarously, especially if they are
slaves. There is practically no control over the treat-
ment of the class, at least in cases of hereditary slaves
of aboriginal chieftains. Chinese masters and mis-
tresses hold the lives of the slaves in their hands. I
heard of a mistress who was annoyed at the conduct
of her little slave girl, and in a fit of uncontrollable
anger, beat her almost to death. The woman was too
superstitious to allow the girl, as the result of her
cruelty, to die in her house, so she sent one of her
husband's soldiers to carry the dying maid to the tower
over the East Gate, where the soldiers kept watch. A
crowd was attracted by the scene, but no one interfered.
After some difficulty the Protestant missionaries per-
suaded two old women, for a good cash present, to
provide shelter for the girl until she died. No action
was taken against the cruel mistress. What a contrast
with all this are the words of the gentle Jesus, " Suffer
the little children to come unto Me."

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Nails are not made from good iron, nor soldiers from good men.

Current Proverb,

CHAPTER XII.

FIGHTING A FAMINE — ^THE MOHAMMEDAN RE-
BELLION WILD BEASTS IN CHINA — ATTACKS OF

WOLVES — WHITE WAX INSECTS — HONOURING A
WIDOW.

T was with great reluctance that I
left Chowtung Mission House and
the interesting family of the Bible
Missionary. What an object-lesson
to the idolator is a clean, neat
Footffeitt Christian home! No shabby recep-

tion room with hideous ornaments
and cheap pictures of idiotic godsl We departed
directly after Early Rice, going down " CoUection-
of-Worthies-Street," and swung into Carpenter
Street, which is flanked by the grounds of the Brig-
adier-General, and, on the other side, by carpenters*
shops. Opposite the doors were fir trees without roots,
planted simply for the first Moon. The eflfect was
striking, and one would suppose the Chinese might
plant permanent shade trees. At the end of Car-
penter Street was a pool of dirty water, green and
filthy-looking, supposed to be the source of lucky in-
fluence to the city, because it is near the house of
Mr. Hide, who is a member of the Hanlin Academy,

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i82 CHINESE SALT

and highly respected throughout the neighbourhood.
His good fortune is said to come from the subtle
influence of this stinking pool, which threw off " the
rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offend-
ed nostril."

Passing the Market Place and turning to the right,
we went down Sheep Street, wherein are found the
best silks, cloths, and wearing apparel in the city. The
West Gate lies at the end of this street, and just
outside live the big merchants of the city, most of
whom are engaged in the salt trade. The supply all
comes from Szechuen, for the white salt produced
above Yunnanfu is not permitted so far north. This
prohibition is all in the interests of the salt-producers
of Szechuen. Formerly great wells were located at
Cormorant Rapid, near Laowa Tan, but as their work-
ing would stop the import trade from Szechuen, the
Gk>vernment officials promptly closed them. Thus the
people are compelled to eat dear salt, which in Chow-
tung is one hundred and twenty cash a catty, or, at
the present rate, four gold cents a pound. It has a
most earthy hue — ^a sort of grey mud colour. After
the pure white salt used on the tables in foreign lands,
it is difficult to become accustomed to it. It has,
however, a considerable savour.

At the end of the West Gate suburb was a large
memorial arch erected in hc»iour of Lung, the present
Prefect of Chowtung. Ten years ago Lung was sent
down by the Yunnan Government to cope with a
famine which was exhausting the district. He started
extensive relief works, and built a canal which we
passed the same day. This canal has been a success,
whereas another one built by him at the north end of
the plateau has been a failure. In addition to the
works, large kitchens for the distribution of rice congee

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THE USES OF OPIUM 183

and rice soup were opened. One of these were in a
large temple called Old Age and Happiness, or Sheo
Fuh Sze, in which about two thousand people, mostly
women and children, were collected in sheds and not
allowed to leave the premises. The greedy underlings
did their best to get pickings out of the business, and
put lime, alum, and other things in the rice to make
a small quantity appear large. This adulterated food,
and close confinement with no sanitary arrangements,
brought on virulent famine fever, and hundreds died.
So rapidly and fatally did death work that the under-
takers were unable to supply the demand for coffins.
When the distributions ceased, a public effort was
made to provide some monument for Mandarin Lung.
A memorial arch was begun, and immense stones
were dragged to the place for material ; but Lung was
sent elsewhere, and the scheme fell through. For years
the stones hindered traffic, but when Lung returned
to office he began to engineer the arch himself,
and in time finished it. It is now one of the finest
monuments in Northern Yunnan. After passing
through this archway, the road runs through some
of the most fertile soil about the city, where there
are immense v^etable gardens. Further south the
gardens give place to opium and bean fields. I noticed
young bean plants growing up between the stubble.
The beans are always planted before the rice is out.
Opium is considered a profitable crop, because every-
thing in connection with it can be used. The juice
of the pods makes the drug; the seeds inside are
eaten by children and adults as a sweet morsel, or
are crushed into oil ; the refuse cakes remaining after
the oil is crushed out are useful as fertilizer. The stalks
of the opium are burned for fuel. " Sweet, sweet
poison for the age's tooth ! "

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i84 TWO MOHAMMEDANS MAKE ONE

Fifteen li from the city lies the Phoenix Mountain,
the top of which is in three distinct ovals. It is said
to have grown out of the earth. As a mark on the
landscape it is much prized by the people of the region.
Not over twenty li from Chowtung we entered the
Mdiammedan country, and in less than an hour I
passed four mosques, but not one had the customary
minaret. Before the Rebellion, the Mohammedans
were so influential in this region that the Chinese were
not permitted to keep pigs or sell poric in the market.
At the end of sixty li we entered the large Moslem
village of Peace Garden, with a dreadful muddy street.
The Islamites are thrifty, but not so abstemious as
the founder of their religion. "The prophet never
enjoyed the luxury of two kinds of food the same
day; if he had flesh, there was nothing else; and so
if he had dates, so likewise if he had bread." The
Mohammedan Rebellion distracted the country for
several years. At first the followers of Islam had
things all their own way, for one Moslem was a match
for ten Chinese. Finally, the rebels began to make
peace. At this jimcture Mandarin Tang returned with
victorious troops and, accusing the Moslems of kill-
ing his father, caused a wholesale massacre. Every
Mohammedan that was left was given the choice of
eating half a pound of pork or of death. A few chose
death, but most elected to eat the pork. It is generally
stated here that it takes two Mohammedans to make
one. When there is only one, he conforms to the local
customs, but when there are two or more, they hang
together for the Koran.

I spent the night at Tashui Tsing. For the last
thirty li we were accompanied by a Mohammedan
soldier, an agile, strong warrior, vastly superior in
make and movements to the Chinese. He served as

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AN AGILE MOSLEM 185

body guard. The road lay up the mountain, steep,
slippery, at times muddy, but mostly covered with
snow, the scenery being beautiful and the air bracing.
The next day we made one hundred and twenty li.
I am inclined to think that in high altitudes walking
is more tiring than at the sea level, until one is accus-
tomed to the rarified atmosphere. The previous night
I slept eight thousand two hundred feet above the tide,
and that night over six thousand feet. These facts
well indicate the general position of the road. The
country is mostly bare and sparsely inhabited. Later
in the day we passed out of the Mohammedan country
and again entered the r^ion of idols. The last Mos-
lem escort was sixty years of age, and ran like a deer
down the rough mountain path to the Ox Fence or
Niulan River. His gait resembled Marcus Dods' de-
scription of Mohammed : — " His step suggested that
of a man descending a hill, and he walked with such
extreme rapidity that those accompanying him were
kept at a half run." Crossing the river is a line sus-
pension bridge with a male and female monkey guard-
ing the entrance at the southeren side. The Niulan
rises on the Yanglin plain about a hundred H from
Yunnanfu, and joins the Yangtze opposite the inde-
pendent Lolo land in Szechuen. It is not navigable, as
the bed is full of huge boulders.

Before this suspension bridge was made, the road
touched the Ox Fence River three li lower down, but
the bridge that crossed there was washed away and a
ferry took its place. A large village grew up on the
south side where travellers usually stopped for the
night, bringing much trade. The ferry was insufficient
for the traffic, and the three great Merchant Guilds de-
cided to put up the money to construct a new bridge. A
new site was chosen and the iron suspension bridge

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i86 SECOND-HAND TEA

completed in the fourteenth year of Kwang Tsu. It
was opened by Mandarin Ho with much festivity. A
village rapidly sprang up around the bridge, and became
the stopping place for travellers, but with true Chinese
stubbornness many preferred the old road and slow
ferry to the new road and good bridge. As very little
traffic came by the latter route, tlie owners of the new
village inns went over and cut away the old road in sev-
eral places. Gradually the new road became the only
one passable, and the inhabitants pulled down their
houses and moved up to the suspension bridge, or went
off to their farms. Only a little white temple remains
to mark the site of a once thriving village.

Having crossed the bridge, the road runs due south
along a mountain torrent. The glum boss coolie,
habitually late, and ill-natured toward the men, by his
meanness " enthused " me to go back and punch two
of his ribs with my rifle barrel. It was a wholesome
lesson, and expedited matters considerably. After that
episode, he attended to business. We passed strings
of ponies laden with medicines, tin and tea, going over
the mountains. There is always one donkey to every
twelve ponies, because of an ancient custom that the
inn entertains a donkey free for every dozen ponies.
One pony's saddle had a red New Year strip on it
bearing this l^end, " May this be a prosperous year,
and everything be as I want it."

Fifty li from Tashui Tsing the Moslem guard was
exchanged for a son of Ham. English walnuts and
maize were for sale, also eggs at five cash each, and
pears with a tar flavour at seven cash. At one shop
we drank second-hand tea, i.e., tea that has been steeped
then fired again, and steeped for further use. The sun
was just down when we entered the village of Ichae
Shin, a small market town of three hundred families.

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A PLAGUE OF WOLVES 187

It lies in the midst of a rich fertile plain. At one end
of the village is a temple to the god of War, and in the
centre of the place two other temples. This is six
thousand three hundred feet above the sea. I found a
good room at the Saving-and-Grafting Inn, with a
charcoal fire, and a candle in a turnip. The cook pur-
chased plenty of vegetables to last over Sunday, and
bought a large, fat chicken for four hundred and fifty
cash, which is about twenty cents gold— -cheap enough,
but a good deal more than the real price, as the cook
has to get his squeeze and the man who recommended
this inn has a share of the profits too. Eggs cost five
cash each, and whole beans fifteen cash a pint. The
cost of living in China, away from the great ports,
is comparatively little, but travelling is much more
expensive than in Western lands, where the locomotive
will in a day or two do a month's journey like the
one I was making.

I discovered that I was wholly deceived by being
told in Shanghai that there are no wild animals in
China. The mountainous country between Chowtung
and Tongchuan is infested with wolves and other sav-
age beasts, " cruel as death and hungry as the grave."
Leopards are constantly seen about Ichae Hsien. The
Chinese say that every tigress brings forth three cubs,
one of which is a leopard; and that the round spot
on the leopard opens out like a horse-shoe after it has
eaten a human being. An educated man told me that
so many children had been devoured by wolves that
no one now takes the trouble to keep the count. Wolves
are caught by a curious device called the " Tiger Um-
brella." It consists of a stick five feet long with sev-
eral iron hooks at the end, which work like the ribs of
an umbrella. The plan is to thrust this down the
wolfs throat and then pull a trifle, and the hooks,

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i88 A DESPERATE STRUGGLE

fastening in his flesh, bag the quarry, and he is soon
ready for market. A wolf's skin sells for one thousand
cash. Another device is called " Catching the Ele-
phant." A deep hole is dug and thinly covered with
fragile poles and enough earth to plant wheat. The
pack of wolves attempt to cross it, and falling in, are
readily captured. Wild animals are sometimes shot
with poisoned arrows from a crossbow. The poison
and arrowheads are boiled together, the former being
called " It-sees-the-blood-and-stifles-the-throat." It is
said to kill the victim at once. In most of the vil-
lages near hills and mountains wolves are a pest, visit-
ing the people with sufficient frequency to inspire them
with dread. Hundreds of lives are sacrificed every
year to these fierce brutes. Some are yellow and some
grey, and go by different names in different places,
such as Tu Pao Tsz, a coarse kind of leopard around
Chowtung. In some places they are also called hill
donkeys, Shan Mao Lee. Tragedies are constantly
occurring in connection with these animals. On the
ground now occupied by a small sanatorium for the
missionaries at Chowtung, two children of the Chinese
owner were devoured. At the village of " Three Red
Trees," I was told that on the third Sun of the first
Moon of this present Rabbit year, an old man named
Hsia, who lived at Fire Burned Bridge, had gone out
in the snowy weather to cut firewood. While he was
cutting down the trees with his " bill " a couple of
hungry wolves seized him and tore him to pieces. The
old man fought well for his life, but he was no match
for two gaunt, hungry wolves, and was soon over-
powered. Although there was evidence in the snow of
a fearful struggle, all that remained of the wood-cutter
were a few gnawed bones. At "Black Earth
Foundation," Heh Tu Ki, the day before my arrival.

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CHASTISING THE GODS 189

Mrs. Field (Tien), the wife of a devil-driver, was
out in the fields driving home the cows, when she
was attacked by a fierce wolf who seized her by the
throat and severed her windpipe. Her sons were near
at hand, and ran to the rescue soon enough to prevent
the wolf from devouring their mother. While life
still remained in the body, one of the sorrowing sons
carried his mother home on his back, but all efforts
to save her life were futile, and that morning the
woman died, another victim of these brutes. Her hus-
band was in a fair way of business, having a reputa-
tion for being able to drive away devils from all
houses of trouble, albeit he was unable to drive away
trouble from his own.

So great is the scourge that the north part of Tong-
chuan plain was rendered unsafe by the depredations
of these animals. Other methods failing to drive away
the leopards, the Prefect Kien tried another. He went
out, prayed to the gods of the hills, to keep their dis-
trict in order and deliver the people from the pest.
The gods failed in their duty. This exasperated the
Mandarin, who paid another visit to the temple, sat
down outside, and in loud tones ordered the lictors to
bring out the useless deities. Laying them on the
ground, face downwards, at the Mandarin's order, the
lictors administered a sound beating as a reminder of
their remissness and as an incentive to better behaviour.
His Honour then went home.

My journey at this stage took me right through
the heart of the great Wax Insect district. This
wax is used for making coloured pencils and
crayons. Most of it is exported. The plain contains
thousands of insect trees. The rush occurs at
the " setting up of summer," when the little town of
Ichae Shin is very busy. Hundreds of men come to

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190 WAX INSECTS

purchase the tiny insects. In an ordinary year the
. price of a load of insects, say seventy catties, is thirty
ounces of silver. In a good year a Chinaman will carry
that on his back over the mountains into Szechuen
and get eighty ounces of silver or more for the load.
It is a risky business, and the family of the dealer
will resort to every device known to propitiate the
gods while he works the insects. Sometimes the in-
sects get warm and hatch out before he reaches his
destination, and then all is lost; otherwise, he may
make a fortune out of one load. Insects from this
place do not make as much wax as those from other
places, because, as a Chinaman said, they have only six
feet. The real hustlers have eight. Inside each chrys-
alis are three insects. The first lot that come out
disappear, and nothing comes of them. The next lot
breed the insects for the next season, and the lot re-
maining do the work and make the wax. The first
are grey, and the last white. Many turn into small
moths and fly away; others bury themselves in their
own wax and die there. I was told that there were
eight thousand loads of these insects produced in
Yunnan last year.

On the next stage, we travelled one hundred and
thirty li to Pan-Pien Tsing, and I stayed over night in
the Great Prosperity Inn. In the comer of my room
was a large coffin, which was not intended to interfere
with my slumbers, but was prepared for Old Yeh's
wife. Old people like to have their coffins ready, to
be sure of getting them. Friends sometimes present
one as a delicate mark of attention. This would be
very suggestive in Western lands, but out there it is
the correct thing. Everything depends on the point
of view. All the day was occupied in passing through
the Red Uplands. Full eighty li from Ichae Shin is a

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A MODEL WIDOW 191

point where the road divides into two, one branch
going off to Huelichou, in the Province of Szechuen.
At this junction of the two roads is a grave with a
history. It is called " The Girl's Grave." Seldom in
China is a girl honoured with a stone on her resting-
place. The one at the head of this grave is in the
shape of a memorial arch. Her father, Mr. Tao, was a
devil-driver in the neighbourhood, and gave her in
marriage while quite a child. The young husband died
before the marriage was consummated. The next
brother wanted to marry her, but she objected. He
failed to persuade her, and tried force. The girl hav-
ing what the Chinese call " a high sense of honour,"
determined to rema;in a widow, faithful to her de-
ceased betrothed. At last, persecuted beyond endur-
ance, she took a dose of opium and died of the poison.
Then came the row. The case was taken from the
District Court to the Higher Court, where the parents
of the girl were awarded a solatium of one hundred
taels, the other party paying it. Part of that money
defrayed the expenses of building this grave. A man
told me this story in front of the tomb. He was
merely a traveller, but was seized by a momentary ex-
citement about it. The Chinese evidently endorse that
sort of thing on the part of girls. The narrative was
confirmed in the village below.

"Early, bright, transient, chaste, as morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven."

Continuing the journey, we passed several houses
where bee-hives were hung outside. The hives con-
sist often of wooden boxes or baskets daubed with
mud. New Year's mottoes were on them wishing
great prosperity to the king of the bees. The honey
of Northern Yunnan has the reputation of being the
best in all China. At the Red Stone Cliff Village

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192 A LOFTY LANDSCAPE

Taoist priests were holding a ceremony during which
they read the Peace Qassics, or Tai Ping King. Fur-
ther on lay the Wild Pig Plain, once a large quagmire
mixed up with quicksands. It has been drained by the
Taoists !

Thirty-five li from Tongchuan are the three graves
of three generals who are still alive. Geomancers,
who understand the state of the Dragon's pulse, have
had the graves put there on trial. Coffins have been
made and parts of the hair and so forth put in and
buried. When the graves are opened, the geomancers
will decide whether it is a good site, suited to give the
generals a good time in the next world.

I pursued my pilgrimage full ninety li, now through
small villages and now in solitudes where the scenery
was unmodified save only by the crystals of ice on the
scant mountain shrubs. Seldom does a foreigner be-
hold this lofty landscape. I rested at the inn of the
Chen Family in the village of Great Water Well, Ta
Shui Tsing, with a charcoal fire in the * hopung,* or
fire basin. For light, a candle was swung in a basket
of eggs from a bamboo joist. This inn was eight
thousand two hundred feet above the sea by our an-
eroid. I had photographed an arch as I entered the
place. I hung my Fahrenheit thermometer to the
metal tripod, and in short order it roistered twenty-
two degrees. As a stiff wind was blowing, I found the
air too chilly to linger for any further c(Mitraction of
the mercury.

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The contented man is rich, and he who can be patient has peace,
of course.

CHAPTER XIII.

TONGCHUAN — STREET SCENES — ITINERANT MUSI-
CIANS — BLINDNESS RESULTING FROM GRIEF — ^PAPEg
FORTUNES FOR THE DEAD — TEN THOUSAND FEET
ABOVE THE SEA — LEPERS CREMATED ALIVE.

X WALKED from Chowtung to Tong-
chuan, nearly four hundred li, but
decided to take a mountain chair
from this place, and engaged three
men to carry it. From Tongchuan
we started soon after one o'clock
in the afternoon for " South of the
BitodPortitnaT*uer. Clouds," Yunnan Fu. My caravan,
consisting of three chairs, nine coolies, two " heroes,"
and three foreigners, a rather imposing procession,
swung out of the mission's high gate into Happiness
Street. On our left the great temple to the god of
the Southern Guilds stood as evidence of the com-
mercial and religious spirit, while not far al(Mig was
a house with a statement over the door to the effect
that for five generations the family has not split up.
That is something the Chinese are very proud of, and
consider sufficiently important to tell to all creation.
On our right the Roman Catholic Orphanage for
N

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194 A BUSY CROWD

Girls, which supports a wise philanthropic work, was
the last object of note to attract attention before we
turned to the left through a narrow passage into the
main street of the city. On the way, we passed a
couple of coy and blushing damsels, one of whom, with
true Chinese modesty, turned her face to the wall and
her back to us; the other, half-sheltered by her
companion, managed to get a good look at the
foreigners.

" The maid who modestly conceals
Her beauties, while she hides reveals."

The street by which we left the city is the only im-
portant street in Tongchuan. It runs from the East
to the West Gate, and extends into the suburbs. Few
pigs are at large, and the people pride themselves on
the cleanliness of their city. Compared with most
Chinese cities, they have a perfect right to be proud.
Nature has assisted the town in providing a number
of good wells, or springs. This does away with water
carrying and sloppy pavements. Right in the centre
of the city we crossed " Ten Character Street," where
were congregated fruit and fish sellers; the vegetable
vendors with mammoth turnips two feet in length
were further along. The Chinaman is w(Miderfully fond
of his " Little Mary." Along the street are eating
places exhibiting dingy saucepans, raw leaf tobacco,
pigs' feet, and other delicacies beloved by Celestials.
Oranges, pears, and sugar-cane were on sale, while
men poorly clad strode along under heavy loads of
firewood. There is no coal in the immediate neigh-
bourhood, and cut firewood is in constant demand.
Pork and fowl are plentiful, but beef and mutton rare.
It was a live, busy crowd. Seldom is a loafer seen in
China; men seem to be employed or in pursuit of
employment. Lending variety to the sunlit street

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BLIND MUSICIANS 195

scene were the small groups of aboriginal women with
gay adornment and natural feet. The two heroes re-
lieved us of the stress of the crowd by calling loudly
to make way for the Mandarins ! I met a blind man
by the West Gate, led by an urchin who assumed
the task of steering him. He was skilfully playing a
superannuated fiddle of two strings. For those who
know and appreciate the intricacies of Chinese music
with its pentatonic system, a considerable amount of
enjoyment can be extracted from a two-stringed violin.
I am free to confess, however, that my early training
in music was so neglected that I fail to appreciate the
artful, delicate touch of Celestial fingers upon the mirth-
ful fiddle. Yet no well-played lute or lyre, breathing
Olympian or Tuscan airs, can so bewitch a Chinaman's
senses as these same screeching two strings, which
frighten even the sullen yellow dogs.

" Swans sing before they die ; 'twere no bad thing,
Should certain people die before they sing."

There are Blind Toms in every country, and China is
no exception to the rule. A blind man came timidly to
the mission station and asked to see the " wind instru-
ment," meaning the organ. After feeling his way over
the keys, he jtmiped at the plan of the strange creature,
and under his magic touch sweet Chinese tunes came
forth, to the astonishment of the missionary and his
own evident delight. Many of the blind men in China
engage in fortune telling, and in that way decide the
destinies ( ?) of multitudes of every class. Being de-
ficient in one organ, they are supposed to excel in the
others.

One can hardly believe it, but there are cases on
record where persons have cried themselves blind. A
middle-aged man who was blind entered the street
preaching hall in Tongchuan. The missionary asked

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196 A CURIOUS FISH-TRAP

him how he lost his sight, and he replied : — " One day
while my men and I were working in the harvest field,
our dinner that was usually brought to us frcMn home
by my little boy did not come. Going to the house
to see what the matter was, I found my poor little son
had been killed and partly devoured by wolves. I
was horror-struck, so that I cried and cried until I
cried myself blind." A woman came to the teacher
and said, " I trouble you, but will you make me see ? "
The teadier replied that he had not the power. " But,"
she said, " everybody says you have." The story of
Jesus healing the blind is often supposed to apply to
the missionary, who is locally called " Jesus." It was
during the French war in Tonquin that this woman's
son went with large numbers of recruits from the
Great Chowtung Plateau to join the forces of the ter-
rible Viceroy Tsen, the father of the present Viceroy
of Szechuen, who has settled the Boxer troubles there,
after the war was over, the mother, who was a widow,
anxiously looked for her son's return, as he was her only
support. One day the sad news came that she would
never see her boy again, as he had died in that fright-
fully malarious country. The poor woman gave her-
self up to unccMitrollable grief, and literally cried her
eyes out.

" Give sorrow words : the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'erfraught heart and bids it break."

The inhabitants of this district seem to be quiet and
well-behaved. Indeed, the people of Tongchuan are
said to be so easily governed that it can be done lying
down. This the Mandarins literally do, for opium is
usually smoked in that position.

In the I Li River the natives had devised a curious
fish trap with stones placed in the shape of a horse-shoe.
The opening was down stream, made, shallow at the

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A MAGNIFICENT PROSPECT 197

entrance and deepened inside. The fish go in and are
unable to find their way out. The scheme works ad-
mirably, and many unwary fish are caught.

After making sixty li, we turned a few li out of our
way to Great Bridge, which spans the I Li, and stopped
at a small, one-story inn for the night. The next morn-
ing we started early and travelled by the light of the
pale silver moon, just sinking in the west, and very
soon to be submerged in the sea of golden light whidi
gradually broke over the sky from the east. The effect
was magnificent beyond description. Past the Post-
of-Three-Families were white-necked ravens, " parson
crows," and a flock of jays. I saw magpies innumer-
able, everywhere, and wild geese. A grey kite and a
white-headed hawk were having a dispute about some
prey in the river.

Thirty li from Great Bridge, at the village of Part-
ridge, preparations were being made for a funeral. The
house of the deceased denoted that he was a person of
small means. But on a pole full thirty feet high were
hung scores of rings three feet in diameter, from each
of which fluttered hundreds of strips of cut paper, each
strip representing one thousand cash. The whole was
to be burned for the use of the deceased in the next
world. He was poor in this world, but would be a
millionaire in the next, as soon as this paper, worth-
less here, but valuable in Hades, was burnt and became
his property. In addition to all this paper money, two
paper horses were waiting to be conveyed to him in the
same way, and a paper sedan chair with the usual com-
plement of attendants, finished the equipment. A tile
on the roof had been removed to let the " Breath Money
Spirit " out. Has this anything to do with the English
expression, " He has a tile loose ? "

At the end of sixty li we began the ascent of the

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198 TEN THOUSAND FEET ABOVE SEA

great Shao Pai mountain. It was a steep climb, first
up a slope, then a gradual ascent until the highest point
of this present journey was reached. The Chinese
say that the road up is fifteen li, but going down it
is but ten li, a thing that is not very absurd when one
recollects tliat in Chinese calculations, time as well as
length is considered. The views from the slope
of Shao Pai are surpassingly grand. Some of
the distant mountains in sight are twelve thousand
feet above the Yellow Sea, and at that time were cov-
ered with snow. Away to the north, on a rocky
summit, almost inaccessible, and surrounded by
stumpy trees, is the famous Temple of "The Collective
Kings." The priest is certainly not troubled with any
considerable number of worshippers. The simlight on
the variegated landscape gave such a glow and surprise
to the mind that one was well repaid for the hard
work of the ascent. The mountain is often visited
by heavy gales, during which neither chairs nor
pedestrians can pass. To the east is Mount Nochu-
tsao, which shifted its position three years ago, the
gigantic movement annihilating more than a score of
families.

At the top of the pass, ten thousnad feet above the
sea, the temperature was thirty-eight degrees Fahren-
heit. Far below, to the west, stretches out the Plain-
of-the-Wild-Horse, beautiful, but almost useless for
cultivation, as there seems to be no outlet for the drain-
age. Flocks of sheep and goats, with shepherds wear-
ing large white capes made from the wool of their own
sheep, dotted the plain. The making of rugs in North-
eastern Yunnan, from home-grown wool, is a con-
siderable industry. We had to eat the "Upper
Noon " at Mouth-of-the-Paper-Factory, and paid sev-
eral cash for a cup of water. The water must all

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THE FEAR OF LEPROSY 199

be carried to this lofty situation from a mountain
stream far below. The people are very poor, and the
village has one street seventy feet long, which is the
width of the ridge at this spot. After stopping there
for some rude refreshment, we began the descent. For
five li the road was in the bed of a stream ; then across
the Great-Plain- Where-the-Salt-Marsh-Plant-Grows.
The atmosphere was exhilarating. There are very
few dwellings on this plain, but at the south end
stands a guard house commanding the long stretch of
level land. The region is infested by bold robber
bands.

The sun had not set when we entered Leper's Head
Hill, a village with one street. The inn was good, as
its name, " Reviving Again Inn," gave promise. The
usual monstrous pictures disfigured the doors. We
soon had a charcoal fire going, and a pigtail entered
and asked if I would have some eggs. Now it so
happened that I said "No," for of late I had used so
many that I was ashamed to look a chicken in the face.
This led the man to think that I believed the curious
superstition of the place. I jotted this down : " Warn-
ing ! The Public is warned against eating eggs in this
place, as there is danger of contracting leprosy." Lep-
rosy is a disease of which the Chinese are very much
afraid, and not without reason. In this Province of
Yunnan there are thousands of leprous persons. No
remedy is known for the disease except to bum the
patient, and this is often done. Cases have been known
where the victim, after having been stupefied with
opium, has been placed in a house, which was
then set on fire and the leper cremated on the
spot.

In this village a busy market is held on the days
belonging to the Dragon and the Dog. During the

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200 DOG LEE AND SPRING LEE

night I was awakened by the noise of drums and
cymbals. The people of the village temple were
escorting the spirits back to Hades, and on their
return bringing water from a noted well in the
neighbourhood.

Next morning, by the light of the full moon, my
caravan cheerfully passed down the deserted street
and out of Leper's Head Hill. It proved to be a merry
day. We had a great deal of fun with the two runners
sent to accompany us. Both surnames were pro-
nounced " Lee," one being distinguished by Lee-of-the-
Double-Mouth, and the other as Lee-of-the-Wooden-
Son. The name of the Double-mouthed Lee was Sia
Keo, which means little dog, or merely "dog" for
short. The name of the other was Ch'uen " Spring."
Spring Lee, like his namesake, was full of life and fun :
Dog Lee had a more wooden face, behind which, how-
ever, lurked a fund of humour easily tapped. Dog
Lee was nineteen years old. He is not married be-
cause he has not money enough to get a wife, and he
lamented the fact that he had no whiskers. He also
had no pigtail, explaining the loss of this Celestial
badge by saying that he was ill last year and it dropped
off. Spring Lee was sixteen, and could swear like a
trooper. Dog Lee lost one of the pairs of straw san-
dals he was carrying; whereupon Spring Lee threat-
ened disaster on Dog Lee's father, mother, the other
members of his family, and his ancestors in general.
Both boys were delighted with their work, especially
when I shot at wild geese. They wore uniforms with
the legend, " Catching Soldier," although I cannot
imagine what they could catch, except an epidemic
going in the opposite direction. Along with the fun,
I had what the Chinese call a " Walking StCMnach,"
and rode in my mountain chair more than usual, whidi

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A CURE FOR CRYING BABIES 201

latter led the chair coolies to remark aside, "The
Living Road is on the chair and is substantial, i.e.,
heavy." We stirred up several larks and stopped to
drink delicious cool water at the Dragon Spring. In
China it is unwise to drink even beautiful running
water unless you see it is at the fountain head, for
various reasons. In the great valley we were traver-
sing, trees are plentiful. The Government has issued
a proclamation advising people to plant trees, and
promising official rank to all who plant ten thousand
trees. Near Yakeo-l'ang on a tree, was hung a notice
in poetry, which is here translated in prose for the
" gentle reader."

" Yellow Heaven and Green Earth :
I have a squalling brat at home.
Will the gentleman passing by please read this verse?
And let me sleep till early dawn ? "

This request is seen all over Central China posted up
on bridges, walls and hills. The idea that a reader's
baby will catch the " squalls " by one perusal is novel,
if not altruistic. From this I gather that crying babies
are the same all over the world.

The sun like a ball of fire dropped into the west,
and by the light of burning forests on the mountain
sides we entered Willow Woods, Yanglin.

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wi m M. m ^ m ^ ^

If one looks at the heavens from the bottom of a well his vision
will be limited

CHAPTER XIV.

HOW TO TRAVEL — ^WRITTEN AGREEMENTS — CHI-
NESE COOLIES — ARCHERY TESTS — ^THE RULE OF
VICEROY TS'EN — ^BLOOD AND IRON.

T was a Saturday when I arrived at
Yanglin, and we quietly sojourned
the next day in the " Star of
Happiness Inn," one of the best I
have visited in the Province of
Yunnan. The hostel and its land-
**"**^' lord, Mr. Chang, have good reputa-

tions. In my room several enthusiastic guests had
written up testimonials on the wooden walls. Here is
a translation of two of them.

Among Yanglin inns the first is the "Star of Happiness."

The landlord is benevolent and righteous, worth a thousand of

gold.
The two honourable cooks are kind indeed.
Never neglecting for a single half-hour to supply you with tea

and water.

The " Star of Happiness '* Inn is the first in Yunnan.
It is clean and quiet like the " Caves of Heaven."
Tea, water, and all things are convenient.
The landlord is more diligent than all Earth's worthies.

On entering the city, a vicious dog, probably mad,
made at me. Fortunately a fine hammerless revolver

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TWO STONE ARCH BRIDGES IN FAR WESTERN CHINA.
Ixvii

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Ixviii

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MAD DOGS 203

was at my belt, and before the savage brute could do
me damage, I sent a chunk of lead through his ugly
brain. Mad dogs are quite numerous in this section,
and cause the death of many people. The Chinese
theory is that the bite of a mad dog breeds a small
dog in the stomach of the victim, which barks and
causes death. One mother, finding her boy bitten by
a dog, gave him several Nux Vomica beans, which,
instead of curing, killed the unfortunate lad im-
mediately. Sometimes a dog bites the shadow of a
person, and this is supposed by the superstitious
Chinese to be more deadly in its effects than the actual
bite.

Two main roads to Yunnan City join in this town,
one, the Mandarin's road from Kwei Chow Province,
and the other from Szechuen, by which we came. Here
also is the telegraph, and there is a Government Post
Office in the city. Staying at the same inn were some
of the retinue of four French officials who were osten-
sibly surveying for the railroad. Whatever their busi-
ness may be called, there is not much the French do
not know about Yunnan Province, and if war broke
out between France and China they would not be
caught napping.

By far the best means of travelling in China is
to walk. But coolies the traveller must have, and it
is therefore always best to get a written ag^reement
both as to time and price. In all my journey, and
I had now come over two thousand miles, there had
been no trouble with those I had employed. The con-
tracts were brushed on red paper and the items in-
serted. The Chinaman will haggle over the making of
an agreement, but once it is signed you may safely
rely on him to keep his part if you show a disposition
to do likewise. It may be difficult when on the road

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204 THE VIRTUES OF HOT WATER

to modify a contract; everj^hing should be carefully
gone over at the very first. Throughout these sixty
days across the Land of Confucius, which I had come,
not a parcel of mine had been lost, not a thing stolen,
and that is remarkable because my bags contained
cameras and additional lenses, and were carried by
many different coolies over rough, slippery, and, at
times, dangerous roads. The Chinese coolie is able to
carry two hundred pounds, but his usual load is about
ninety pounds, and with it he will usually go fifteen
or twenty miles a day; but my men were under special
arrangements, and went nearly fifty miles in that
time. They watched the things while eating, and
guarded them under all circumstances. These same
coolies might be open to temptation to take from an-
other traveller, but they will protect their master and
his property. Another pleasant feature of the journey
is that at whatever hostel, in whatsoever sized city,
village or hamlet, it is needed, boiling water can always
be obtained. The Chinese wash in hot water and
drink hot water. At the " Star of Happiness " a basin
of boiling water was fetched me. I then took my
short towel a la Chinois, dipped it into the water and
washed with it instead of a sponge, letting the damp-
ness dry. Maybe this practice of using hot water
inside and outside has killed many a microbe that
else would have made a pigtail into an ancestor
earlier than was necessary. The meanest coolie will
take his hot towelling twice a day and thus have a
clean towel 1

Then, too, good nature is everywhere. A Chinaman
understands the comitas inter gentes; his smile is
close to the surface and is easily tapped. Let a
traveller be half decent and treat the Chinese of all
classes with some regard to the golden rule, and he

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COST OF DINNER 205

will find a kindly, pleasant people. The Chinaman
is not as hilarious as the South Sea Islander, nor as
shallow as a Shan, but he is jovial — ^not mirthful, so
much as full of quiet, well-considered fun. He loves
games of chance, not so much, perhaps, for the amuse-
ment they afford as for the opportunity they offer of
getting something without the dreadful drudgery of
daily toil.

It is said that animals recognize a master man, and
are ready to obey him. This is certainly true of
human beings. In America or China there must be a
self-poise and dignity which compel respect. The
Chinaman knows a fool when he sees one, even if he
be covered with a white epidermis. I have learned
that it pays to treat even a cannibal with politeness.
The traveller in China everywhere should avoid
biliousness, and appropriate much good nature to
his own use.

'* He who surpasses or subdues mankind
Must look down on the hate of those below.''

On Sunday we ate the goose shot on Saturday. The
inn cook made a splendid repast of the bird. The
gravy was delicious. I also had forty cash (two cents
gold) of pickles, a small basin of cooked chicken (five
cents gold), three sweet potatoes four pounds weight
(nine cash a pound). The price in the inn for an " in
and out " is seventy cash.

It is said of Captain Gill that he had (when a boy)
arranged a mechanical contrivance to pull off his bed-
clothes at a very early hour, and was thus habitually
at work long before breakfast. Like Captain Gill,
travellers in China should be early risers. The next
morning we broke the record, and began to move
before midnight, but discovered our mistake ere any
great harm was done. So, deciding the hour was too

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2o6 ' YANKEE DOODLE

early, we slept again! However, we got up at two-
thirty A.M. by our watches, which we afterwards
found to be an hour fast by the arsenal whistle in
Yunnan City. It was necessary for me to reach the
city by a certain hour, and we first succeeded in getting
King No. 3 out of bed, and sent him to rouse the inn
cook, then turned our attention to the chairman of the
coolies. These men were more difficult to deal with
than the other lot, so I went out into the yard and
publicly orated. It is astonishing what an effect
Shakespeare has on uneducated Chinese coolies, a
proof, if any were wanted, of the immense superiority
of the English language over any other form of
speech. But whistling Yankee Doodle was the climax.
Talk about stirring the blood of patriotic Americans!
It moved the very bones of those Celestials.

" For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense."
After this performance the preparations for departure
were carried briskly on. By three-thirty all loads were
tied up and everybody was laughing and devouring
Early Rice. Just before four the procession was march-
ing up the hill leading out of Yanglin, lighted by the
moon struggling against the depressing influence of
dark clouds. Later on, drops of rain fell, and a tor-
rent soon came down in blocks, acres, miles. A cot-
tage by the roadside tempted shelter, but the inmates
were slow to respond to the appeals of the men, fear-
ing robbers. The mention of robbers suggested pos-
sibilities. We got in at last, and sat down in a
miserable room. Fortunately the rain soon ceased, and
we were off again. The paved roadway was very diffi-
cult to travel in the uncertain light. At the end of
eight li in the light of winter daybreak we passed the
small village Little Shop, Sia Pu Tsz, and at thirty
li stopped at Long Hill. The people were just getting

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BRASS OX SHRINE 207

up. Some were placing huge kettles outside their
doors. These contained the fire as well as the water,
burning wood being placed right in the centre of the
huge copper utensil. Smoke and flame came out at
the top, and ashes at the bottom. Near by were tables
consisting of long stone slabs. I had hot water to
drink, and then turned beans and nuts from my pocket
on to the table for the men to eat. There were a few
cash mixed with the rest — ^which were eagerly seized
and pocketed.

Leaving this quaint little village we made a spurt
and walked thirty li in about two hours. The walk
was grand, the road being level and unpaved. Man-
darin Wu passed us going down to take over the
seals of the District Magistrate of Chowtung. He
had several women, probably wives and slave girls,
in his retinue. These Mandarins are usually fond of
money and women. We passed a number of guard
houses to-day, all empty, the guards having been
withdrawn on account of economy at headquarters.
I stopped for lunch, at the end of sixty li, in the market
town of Small Wood Bridge, Siao Pan Chiao. Rice
was ten cash a basin, gravy gratis, sauce three cash.
At home one usually has to pay for gravy, and can
get the sauce free. Eggs were seven big cash each,
and tea seven. Two kinds of cash are in use, the large
and the small. About twenty of the large and thirty
of the small equal a gold cent. Heavy, filthy and un-
certain as the cash is, the Chinese cannot do without
the currency.

Just out of the West Gate is a stone bridge which
the natives say trembles when walked on, although
it seemed firm enough. Here we constantly met
droves of horses and hundreds of ox and buffalo carts.
The wheels of the carts are not so large as those I

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2o8 NOTHING LIKE HEARTS

noticed around Chowtung City. Seventy li from
Yanglin brought us to another stone bridge, on the
west side of which is Brass Ox Shrine, Tong Nu Sz.
Here is a dilapidated mud ox minus a head. Formerly
a brass ox occupied the altar. It was worshipped
by many people, but when the Mohammedan Rebel-
lion broke out, someone did with the ox what Crom-
well did with the silver apostle in Exeter Cathedral,
melted down the huge lump and turned it into ready
" cash." The Moslems were very hard on metal.
They smashed the idols to get the hearts of precious
metals. The Chinese were just as keen on hearts.
Many ate the hearts of slain Mohammedans in order
to get possessed of the wonderful bravery which the
followers of Islam conspicuously showed. " Paradise
under the shadow of swords " was the Islamic battle-
cry. Nothing like hearts. Many of the horses we
met to-day were carrying large empty spirit bottles.
They had sold their spirit in Yunnan City. Several
aboriginal women of the Samei tribe, carrying heavy
loads on their backs, trudged along cheerfully chewing
betel-nut. One tired creature sitting by the roadside
was resting her little feet, for the small "golden
lilies " make it difficult for the women to walk with
ease. Their hobble is very different from the natural
stride of the aborigines. The mustard plant was in
bloom in many fields. Oil is extracted from the seeds
later on. Most of the foothills were barren and unfit
for agriculture. The curiosity of the people was shown
everywhere. When I stopped, one man said my metal
tripod was a telescope, called in Chinese "Thousand
Li Glass." Another declared it was a gun, and ex-
plained to an anxious on-looker of less boldness how
it would shoot at each joint!

The village of Fanga Chiao lies eighty li from

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Ixix

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Ux

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THE TOWER OF LITERATURE 209

Yanglin. The road from there is up a gentle slope,
beyond which the great plain of Yunnan City is in
view. The beautiful lake in the distance skirts the
foot of high hills. When on a lofty situation I came
upon this view of the fertile plain with its villages
and cities, it was doubly entrancing in contrast with
the scenery I had just passed. Fifteen H further on
we were in the outskirts of Yunnan City, where I was
greeted very cordially by Mr. J. McCarthy, a gentle-
man ot sixty-three years, wonderfully hearty and do-
ing missionary work which many young men of thirty
would shrink from. With him were Messrs. Owen
Stevenson and F. H. Rhodes, both of the same
mission.

On arriving at Yunnan a striking tower, beautifully
proportioned, was one of the first objects we saw.
Built at great expense and finished a year or two ago,
it forms one of the finest sights around the city. It
is dedicated to the god of Literature, and named Tsu
K'uie Leu. We ascended the third and highest story
and had a fine view of the south suburb of the city.
I took a photograph looking west. Coming down,
we passed through a tea shop on the ground floor,
and went along the main street of the south suburb,
and passed under a low archway a little more than
six feet high. Above this archway is an Indian
tumulus, built long ago when princes from Burma
and Siam had more influence in Yunnan than they
now have. At that time Yunnan was very closely
connected with these countries. In the tumulus is
said to be buried the skull of a man named Hwa
Hsiong. It is considered very unlucky to pass under
the arch, as the influence of the skull is said to prevent
the growth or to shorten the height of a full-grown per-
son. If my friends in America find that I have " gone

O

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210 ARCHERY TESTS

down one," instead of up, they will know the reason.
There is a way round on both sides of the arch, and
this is used by nearly all the passers-by.

Further on we passed a large Customs Station, and
saw several people spinning rope from the fibre of the
Tsung, a kind of palm tree. Turning to the right,
we passed a large military camp, and then came to
the public execution ground, where many tragic scenes
are frequently enacted. A few years ago, before the
military camps were abolished, the archery trials for
the military "Budding Talent" <B.A.) and "Ex-
alted Man " (M.A.) degrees were held. A trench ran
right up the centre of the ground, and three targets
would be placed on the left side of the trench. The
mounted candidate with his new string bow and three
perfect arrows, would start from one end at a gallop,
and his purpose would be, riding as fast as possible,
to shoot a shaft into each mark before coming out into
the presence of the examiner, who was always a civil
official and who, perhaps, had never touched a bow in
his life. The well-trained horses would go at a great
pace, and several men, skilled in the art, would
strike the target every time. The archery test has
now been abolished, but many a military official still
prizes his bow. It may be that archery contests will
be revived some day by a reactionary government.
Even so late as the Japanese War the Government
sent for a large body of aborigines from the Province
of Kweichow, many of them armed with bow and
arrows, to go and fight the terrible " dwarfs " from
the land of the Rising Sun. China lags far behind the
times.

Just beyond the execution ground is the busy street
leading into the South Gate, opposite to which is the
magnificent memorial arch bearing the characters

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A SMART PIECE OF WORK 211

Chung Ai — Loyalty and Love. On the other side of
the street are shops where saddles are sold. The great
horse trade centring here creates a demand for these
articles. Yunnan City has six gates, the North, South,
East and West, with a Lesser East and a Lesser West
Gate. We entered by the busiest, the South. I no-
ticed that the shops are low, but they carry on an
extensive business, and the chief banking houses are
found in the southern quarter.

In the memorable and blood-stained reign of the fa-
mous Viceroy Ts'en, father of the present (nineteen
hundred and three) Viceroy of Szechuen, this street
was the scene of a smart piece of work. A fire broke
out. The Viceroy sent his soldiers to extinguish the
flames, and gave strict orders that no looting would be
allowed. Then, as was his custom, he put on civilian
clothes and went out to see how things were going.
Turning a comer into the South Street, he met a man
with an armful of loot, and promptly stopped the
offender, asking who he was. With a polite (?) refer-
ence to the interrogator's ancestors the man swore and
in return asked who he was. " I'll tell you and kill
you," said the Viceroy, and, suiting the action to the
word, he drew his heavy sword and with one stroke
cut the presumptuous looter in two. No wonder, then,
that the great Viceroy made his name a terror to all
Secret Society men and thieves. Even the b^gars and
audacious vagrants, an uncontrollable pest in most
Chinese cities, put on their best behaviour while the
Viceroy was in power. He ruled the Province with an
iron will, and thousands of people must have been
killed by him. It is reported that when a young man,
he dreamed that he would kill ten thousand bad men.
He may not have been over-conscientious in making
enquiry about the moral character of his victims, but

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212 A MERCILESS VICEROY

at any rate the dream came true ! In the house which
is now occupied by the China Inland Mission at Kuh
Tsing City, five stages from here, Ts'en made his
head-quarters during one period of the Mohammedan
Rebellion. It is said that in this one place he signed
the death warrants of over ten thousand people.
Many of these he killed with his own hand. Un-
doubtedly he was one of the strongest Chinese rulers
of modern years, though fierce and cruel. He was the
man for the time, and brought back peace and order
to that distracted Province. Towards the end of his
life he was haunted by visions of revengeful spirits
which he had disembodied.

" We but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor."

While absent on one of his long journeys to the west
of the Province, the hallucination became so great that
he had to return home. The spirits accompanied
him in great numbers, and no doctor in the city
could lay them. A missionary was suggested, but the
Viceroy refused to see him. So the great Ts'en died.
He now shares the honour of a temple with the god
of War, who occupies the chief place. A very
striking image of Ts'en has been erected, and incense
is regularly burned to him. The ruling spirit was
strong " after death," and it is reported that he made
things warm in the next world when he got there.
In some villages west of the city an epidemic carried
off large numbers of the people. The explanation
was given that Viceroy Ts'en was engaged in war in
the lower regions, and being short of troops, recruited
his forces by sending an epidemic to his old Province
of Yunnan. A man that can stir Earth and Hell both
must be a remarkable man.

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A DISLOYAL MOTHER 213

Ts'en had a curious career. He was a native of
the Province of Kwangsi, and one of the aborigines.
Early in life he lost his father, and the mother had so
little faith in her sons that she persisted in marrying
again. The law in China is that if a woman remarries,
she must never return to the house of her first husband.
Ts'en never forgave his mother. He became a B.A.,
and like many others of his provincials, went into
the robbing business. He made things so warm in
this line that he was wanted and at last surrounded,
but managed to escape, taking with him some
hundreds of ounces of silver.^ He fled to Yunnan,
and finding that offices were open for sale, purchased
a small rank for two hundred taels; and when
the rebellion broke out, rapidly rose to power.
When he became Viceroy, his mother claimed her
son, but he declined to be claimed, and refused
her overtures, although she frequently waylaid him.
" You refused to trust me when I was poor and un-
known. You had no faith in your son. You joined
another family. Stay where you are." He, however,
made her a present of silver, but declined to recognise
her.

We made our way up the busy street to the Middle
Harmony Lane, situated in the centre of the city. Here
I was warmly welcomed into the home of Mr. Owen
Stevenson, who has been working in the town as a
missionary for nearly twenty years.

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4lj iftn ^ $ >^ A

If men will not learn they are not as good as hmtts.'-Child's
Classic.

CHAPTER XV.

CHINESE INTERPRETERS — A STREET OF SHOPS — ^A

MYTH WITH A MEANING ^AN INTERVIEW WITH A

VICEROY — OFFICIAL APATHY IN CHINA THE

GREATEST NEEDS OF CHINA — ^THE YAMEN IN
TIME OF REBELLION.

ISITING cards four and a half
inches wide by nine and a half
long are proper for a " big bug "
in China. I had a die cut in
Shanghai, and two hundred of
the above size ( !) printed black
on blood red. My large red
Mandarin's card was despatched
mo ng urn. ^^ ^j^^ Yamcn by a highly-
polished Chinaman in the employ of the British
Consul at Tengyueh, and I asked the Acting Viceroy
to appoint a time for an interview. He replied he
would receive me at one p.m. I borrowed a Mandarin's
chair from the discreet official in charge of Foreign
Affairs in the city, and, at ten to one, set out
in proper (tom-fool) style. Four men carried the
chair and four men supported the poles at one side.
Each man had to bear about thirty pounds as his
share of the chair and occupant, the whole weighing
two hundred and forty pounds. With so many men

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THE GREAT SQUARE PAGODA, near the South Gate, Chu Siung Fu. Far
Western China. When the rebellion led by the frantic Ling Lieu waxed strong, the
Geomancers ordered the closing of the South Gate of the City. It has remained closed
ever since.

Ixxii

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CHINESE INTERPRETERS 215

we slipped along quickly. The Viceroy had an inter-
preter, but learning that his English was imperfect, I
asked my friend, Mr. Samuel Pollard, one of the most
brilliant Chinese speakers I have met, to go with me.
This was a fortunate move, and showed how completely
one is at the mercy of an interpreter.

It convinced me of the mistake our own Government
(the United States) makes in employing Chinese trans-
lators and interpreters at the Consulates. People speak
about the blunders of missionaries, but what greater
mistake could be made than that of appointing natives
to positions of such great trust — men who are imper-
fectly educated and who speak the English language
very indifferently? Now that our trade is becoming so
extensive in the East, America should follow England
in requiring the Consuls in China to know Chinese, and
to qualify themselves for their position by first studying
the Chinese language.

We first went up the gentle slope of the Middle
Harmony Passage, Chong Ho Hang, on which one of
the Inland Mission houses faces, and then turned sharp
to the left into the Street of the City Hell Temple.
On this street are shops for the sale of native medi-
cines, gorgeous Indian prints, confectionery, native
cloth and other articles. Here and there in the busy
crowd was a white-faced lady attended by a natural-
footed slave girl. A sunshade was used to protect
the pale face from the heat, but old Father Sol would
have found it difficult to change the white powder
into a bright red. I wonder how these ladies manage
to blush through such a coating. They must do all
the blushing inside. Some of the powdered faces look
haggard in spite of the white powder so generously
and elaborately applied. Often the slave girl is more
interesting than the lady in the " golden lilies " and

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2i6 OLD CLOTHES

broomstick legs. Art is more prized than nature —
by the vulgar.

A quick turn to the right took us into " Shining
Happiness Street." This street is worth seeing. The
low, open shops are thickly hung with clothes for sale.
•Bright srilk garments for all kinds of people were
exhibited. Ladies' robes and jackets were like the
rainbow, red, green, blue, purple, heliotrope — delicate
half-colours dazzled the eyes. The richest of all were
costumes for actors, costing one hundred and even
two hundred taels of silver. These were visions of
brilliant colours which " are begot in the ventricle
of memory " long after they have passed. A lady's
robe or jacket in satin can be purchased for sixteen
taels, or about ten dollars gold. Among the shops
with the brilliant garments were interspersed other
shops for the sale of brass censors, brass candlesticks,
brass wash bowls, brilliant scrolls illuminated with
choice figures or characters, hats, chinaware from the
famed potteries in the distant Province of Kiangsi, and
opium pipes of many varieties and different prices.
An opium pipe can be bought for one hundred cash or
one hundred taels. Old ones are prized, as they are
saturated with poison, and so do not deprive the
smoker of any of the fumes by absorption as they
pass down the long tube into his eager throat. The
" well-gorged " pipe is most highly valued.

Another turn to the left brought us into the Siyuen-
Kiai, on which stands the Yamen of the Governor
and Acting Viceroy of the Province of Yunnan. A
few yards further we turned again to the right and
were on the ground inside the Big Gates of the court-
yard. This ground is given up to sellers of " Ancient
Regulations," as curious and second-hand articles
are called. What a big supply of such stuff Western

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A CURIOUS ALLEGORY 217

Powers could supply China with. She is fond of buying
up antiquated rifles discarded by Western Powers,
, and possibly she may yet try her hand at adopting
some Western Ancient Regulations. A most curious
collection one finds on the stands here — old cash
which were old when Julius Caesar conquered Britain
(he never conquered America), and old nails which
were new but a few months ago. Inkslabs, pens,
swords, knives, beads, cups, vases, chains for tying
up buffaloes or madmen, opium pipes of all states and
ages. Here and there amid such rubbish a prize is
hidden away whose value the smart owner has over-
looked. Sometimes one can pick up a treasure, but
the most part is only old iron.

In the gates go the chairs, through the " Door of
Palisades," and we are in the great outer reserve of
the Yamen. A most interesting place this proves to
be. On the south is a huge wall with fantastic paint-
ings on it. A wall of this kind is a familiar figure out-
side all Yamens.

The principal figure on the south wall is a T'an,
forty feet long, representing a fabulous monster shaped
like an unicorn. This great beast is trying to get at
and devour the sun depicted just above, and represents
the insatiate covetousness of officials. The point of
the myth is, therefore, real when we know that T'an,
the character for this beast, is the character for covet-
ousness. The T'an beast is a myth, the T*an heart
IS' most real. How extremely Chinese all this is!
How comically it would work in Western lands. Sup-
pose every public official in Christendom was com-
pelled to portray the ruling passion of his heart out-
side his door ! What a grand variety of sign-boards !
Congressmen! M.P.'s! Syndicate Men! Designing
Mothers-in-law !

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2i8 MONKEY SYMBOLISM

The T'an is treading on the " Eight Precious
Things," and by his side on the right is a tree, on one
of the high branches of which is hung an official seal
used by the great statesmen of China. Reaching out to
grasp this sign of high office is the Divine Monkey,
representing the officials grasping after higher position
and more power. A history of " Monkey Business in
China " would out-monkey all the antics of the animals.
In the case of lower officials there is some distance be-
tween the monkey's hand and the seal it longs to hold.
To-day, however, this particular monkey had his hand
right on the seal, for the Mandarin of this Yamen,
Lin Shao Nien, had in his charge the Viceroy's Seal,
the greatest prize in the Province.

** Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it touches."

Good old monkey got it at last. Years of patient
waiting, creeping nearer and nearer, and now success.
Underneath the tree are drawn five tigers and three
lions, of extraordinary appearance, such as no lion
or tiger would be proud of. The lion would try some
warm streaks for the author of the caricature if he
found him. These lions and tigers represent the
generals and other military officers of the Province
who have come under the control of the Governor
since he has taken a higher office. Military officials
are usually under the control of the Viceroy, and the
lions and tigers do not usually grace the Governor's
wall. Close against the big wall are two high flag-
staffs with long flags having on them in huge letters
the rank of the Governor. Right opposite are two
covered-in bandstands, where musicians play squeaky
instruments mom, noon and night, three times a day,
and also for some seconds whenever the Governor
leaves the Yamen. He goes out in great state,

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ENTERING THE YAMEN 219

preceded by twelve pairs of red uniformed soldiers
carrying tridents; with him are several small officials
bearing swords in their hands. At the sides near the
band^ands are low houses occupied by " runners."
Our chairs now reached the "First Gate " (T'eo-men).
A servant received our cards and hastened in to an-
nounce our arrival, and with our chairs still carried
high, we waited a few moments for the great gates to
open and the Mandarin to welcome us in his official
robes.

While waiting, the Arsenal whistles began to blow
one o'clock. We were on time. Almost immediately
the doors began to swing open, and the high door-gods
displayed thereon stepped aside to allow the entrance
of the American traveller and his English interpreter —
an Anglo-Saxon alliance to which the very gods gave
w^ay. There were six of these octopod gods on the
First Gate. In through this entrance we came to an-
other large courtyard surrounded by low houses, and
on the left were two doorways leading into quarters
where soldiers and officers dwelt. Small trees were
on each side, and straight in front the Second Gate,
on either side of which were tablets with long handles
to carry them by, bearing gilt letters, inscriptions de-
noting what offices the Governor had held in his long
career, or what success and reward he had obtained
in Government examinations. There were fifty such
boards. They made a brilliant array in the bright
sunshine. Through this door was yet another yard,
large and clean, with a coloured sundial on the right
and a stone lamp stand matching it on the left. Here
again were several trees, to one of which a patient
mule was tied up. There was yet another great door-
way with overhanging eaves, under which were hung
many oblong tablets in blue, black, white and yellow.

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220 INTERVIEWING A VICEROY

containing in the centre the one word " Fuh," Happi-
ness, the most prized of all Chinese characters, and
on the sides, names of the officials whose good rule
or favour had elicited such tablets, and a general list
of the individuals who had offered the tablets. This
galaxy of coloured happiness brightened up the scene.

Under this roof is the Ta T'ang or Great Hall, all
carpeted in red felt. Here the Governor sits when
holding public trials. Our chairs stopped, and we
advanced over the red felt to where the Viceroy was
waiting to receive us, and lead us to his Great Hall.
We followed him to the door of a bright guest hall
having windows on either side. The Governor bowed
me in first, and then led the way to a round table
covered with a bright red cloth, in the centre of which
was a dish containing pebbles in water with the nar-
cissus in bloom. Chinese everywhere like this flower
and call it the " Water Fairy." The Viceroy took
his place at the side of the table nearest the door,
first giving me the seat of honour with Mr. Pollard
opposite. The Viceroy's interpreter, Professor of
English (!) in the Government School here, sat oppo-
site to the great man. Lin was at first a little reserved.
The interpreter led off with a few general questions
which he had no doubt committed to memory before
coming, such as when I arrived in China, where I was
going, how long I would remain in the city, and so on.
A large number of smaller officials stood at the back,
or looked in at the windows, intensely interested in
the conversation. Using the interpreter, I said to the
Viceroy that my journey from Chowtung had been
made pleasant and easy by the officials. The inter-
preter made me say " The Protestant Mission at Chow-
tung is prosperous, and doing a good work.'' The
latter was true as a matter of fact.

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THE IMAGE OF THE GOD HUNG IN THE TEMPLE OF THE EARTH,

Chu Siung Fu, Far Western China.

Ixxiii

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THE GREAT WARRIOR IDOL HAH IN THE TEMPLE OF THE GOD OF
THE EARTH, Chu Siung Fu, the City of the Great Boho, Far Western China.

Ixxiv

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TESTIMONY TO MEDICAL MISSIONS 221

After explaining to the Viceroy my four years'
journey around the world, and informing him that I
was writing a book about China, I asked a liberal num-
ber of searching questions, some of which were an-
swered with true diplomacy. He said that he was in
favour of sending young men to America to study
mining engineering, in order that they might return
and work the mines. He deeply deplored the lack of
young men properly trained to develop the resources
of the Province and Empire. As if remembering the
details of some fond dream of the destiny of China,
and a glorious future for himself, he made careful
.enquiry about the cost of such training, length of
time to complete the desirable course, and what in-
stitution in the United States I considered the best.
Subsequently I heard that the Viceroy is progressing,
and has already modified the school system and has
appointed teachers in Japanese, French and English.
This means very little; indeed, I suspect it has refer-
ence to the Capital City only. The officials in China
have the power to get the people to do almost any-
thing they desire, and should he set his mind on re-
forming the school system of the Province, along mod-
em lines, he could do it, as he rules absolutely five
million people. It is the apathy of officials that blocks
reform, and any innovation that tends to weaken
their prestige is odious and hateful. I pressed upon
him the great importance of teaching English, and
made some enquiry about missionaries. " At present
there is harmony between people and converts," he
said, with a tardy and incomplete smile ; " but in out-
lying portions of the Province there are persons who
do not understand the missionary position." Just
then he seemed to have a distinct desire for solitude,
but brightened up when I asked him about Medical

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222 CHINA FOR THE CHINESE

Missions, and said that this work carried its own
evidence of good will and advantage with it; not so
preaching. He declared with scarcely concealed in-
difference that Englishmen are the best missionaries
in the Province, maybe because they give him the
least trouble, and incidentally complicate matters
for the aggressive Frenchmen, who watch Yunnan
like a hawk. I told him, as an American, I believed
in China for the Chinese, and hoped that China would
largely develop her own resources. I advised that
foreigners should be used as expert teachers, and that
the great aim should be for China to maintain her
autonomy. These words fully roused him to throw
off all stiffness and restraint. He became delighted
and, nodding his head again and again, was not con-
tent with saying Hao, Hao (Good, Good), but traced
with his fingers on the table-cloth the character for
" Good." " China for the Chinese," this motto evi-
dently struck a soft spot in his heart. I advised him
to send one of his sons to America to be educated,
and enquired how many he had. He lifted up one
finger, looked sad, and said, " and he is young," The
Viceroy asked me what I thought were the greatest
needs of China at the present time. I replied, " Plenty
of schools with sound moral training and earnest
search after the true religion." He seemed deeply
thoughtful, and asked what I meant by the " true re-
ligion." In the discussion which followed, the time
quickly passed, as did the oranges, biscuits and sweets.
Twice a hideous shrieking of peacocks gave variety to
the situation. After he had promised me to telegraph
orders that I should be granted all possible assistance
by the officials as far as the frontier, I lifted my cup of
tea and drank. This act terminated the interview.
The Governor then escorted us to our chairs and very

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THE YAMEN DURING REBELLION' 223

politely expressed his obligations, etc., for the visit.
He offered to return the call, but I begged him not to
do this, as I would be very busy making preparations
for continuing my journey to Tali Fu. As we departed
through the gates, we faced the great T'an, and passed
between two grotesque lions by the door. Huge
rows of teeth they showed, and their faces were super-
ciliously turned up to the sky as if they disdained to
notice the foreigners. The monkey was still holding
the seal, the T'an was still on the back of the sun.
(Look out when he gets there. What a warm break-
fast he will get the day he tackles that hot bun!) The
flags were still flying, the sellers of ancient bric-a-brac
were still busy. All was peaceful. A few boards
which are carried before the Governor when he goes
out rested quietly at the sides, bearing such mottoes
as " Be Quiet ! " " Hide Away ! Retire ! " And we
quietly retired. I felt as I left it all, " Vain pomp and
glory of this world, I hate ye."

Not always has such peace reigned in this Yamen.
During the Mohammedan Rebellion in the time of
Ts'en Kung Pao, who became Viceroy of Yunnan, and
who was the father of Viceroy Ts'en, one of the few
great men in China to-day, the place flowed with blood.
Unrest prevailed everywhere, and executions took
place in this Yamen at all hours of the day and night.
People say that the flow of human blood never stopped.
Who can say that such dreadful scenes will not be
re-enacted? Lin-Shao-Nien may merit the reputation
which he has of being upright and philanthropic, but
he did not impress me as a strong man. He was a
great contrast to the powerful Tuan Fang, who cour-
teously entertained me at Wuchang, and who rules
fifty million people.

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The Emperor has errors just as well as others.
CHAPTER XVI.

TELEGRAPHS IN YUNNAN CHINESE DEMONSTRA-
TION OF GRIEF — ^THE SWITZERLAND OF CHINA

A GRUESOME WARNING TO EVIL-DOERS

HORRIBLE FATE OF PARRICIDES OLD PAN's

INN THE MYSTERIOUS BOHO REVEALED A

WELL OF WONDER.

^^^/HE men who came with me
^^^ from Tungchuan were paid oflF
I I at Yunnan City, and a com-

9 J pJ^tc "€w set employed. The

J m fresh men were an indifferent

a r looking assortment. Some bore

the visible effects of the en-
Portabie Kitchen. thralling power of the opium

habit; others were strong, powerful fellows, but
none had a distinctly villainous aspect. Leaving
Yunnan City, we followed the single line of heavy
wire. It is possible for an entire stranger, even
if he does not speak Chinese, to go from the capital
of Yunnan Province clear over the British line into
Bhamo without losing his way, if he follows the tele-
graph line. This line made considerable bother for
the officialc when first erected. Not infrequently were
the heavy wires cut and used for the convenience
of the neighbourhood. An attempt finally was made
to destroy it, the superstitious people saying that

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TELEGRAPHS IN YUNNAN 225

the spirits flying in the air would be inconvenienced
or even cut their throats on the wires. A few vigorous
magistrates promptly finished up the throat-cutting
business by cutting off the heads of the objectors.
When the telegraph line from Meng Tz to Yunnan
City was built, evil reports were spread that foreigners
were cutting off the breasts of women, the queues of
men and the wings of fowls, and were trying to torture
certain Chinese to death. A friendly Chinaman told
Missionary Stevenson, and he laughed. Later on when
the rumours were thickest, Old Plow, an enquirer,
came to the missionary and, weeping bitterly, said
that his son's pigtail had been removed, and he was
sure the lad would die. The missionary assured him
that it would make no difference, as his own hair
had been cut before coming to China, and that hair-
cutting was common in European countries. The
Celestial dubiously replied, " You are an Englishman,
and my son is a Chinaman, and that makes the differ-
ence." Next morning he came in and said with a
laugh, " My son is dead." It was a peculiar coinci-
dence. The Chinaman's way of showing sorrow is ex-
pressive. He puts his heels in the stirrups, wears his
shirt outside his trousers, mourns in white, and ex-
presses grief with a laugh. Two days after this boy
died the Viceroy issued a proclamation exonerating
the foreigners, and offered a reward for the apprehen-
sion of the tail cutters. A Taoist priest was arrested,
condemned and beheaded. Old Plow was the first
Yunnanese to join the Protestant Church, and he is
still faithful. One day in the street, a young man asked
his name, and where he lived, according to Chinese
custom, and receiving polite answers, he finally asked if
he had joined the Church. Plow replied that he had,
whereupon the young fellow, with a savage look, struck
• P

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226 THE SWITZERLAND OF CHINA

the old man a severe blow on the face, saying, " Don't
you know that we Yunnanese have nothing to do with
these Christians ? " The stricken man turned the other
side of his face, but the young fellow dropped his
head and slunk away, and Old Plow said to a foreign
friend standing by, " I am able to act differently
since my conversion."

Yunnan Province has had a chequered career ever
since it became a part of the>great Empire of China.
In the thirteenth century the great northern warrior
Kublai Khan annexed " The Switzerland of China "
to the Manchu Empire. " How great his exploits must
have been is shown by the fact that all the tribes of
the Siberian Ice-fields, the deserts of Asia, together
with the coimtry between China and the Caspian Sea
acknowledged his potent sway." The traveller, in
crossing this lofty Province to its utmost Western
Boundary, will seldom find his path less tlian five
thousand feet above the tide, and off toward the Roof
of the World, uncertain Thibet, covered with perpetual
snow, are seen many peaks over ten thousand feet in
height. Yunnan City, the capital, is situated near a
beautiful lake on a plain a thousand li in length. This
great plateau is six thousand feet above the sea level,
and from October till the end of April a cloud is seldom
seen, and the sun shines in glorious splendour. I was
once fishing, on a summer's day, on the Sea of Galilee.
The old skipper who set the lines for me said that
storms unexpectedly break upon this most beautiful
sheet of water just as they did in the time of our Lord.
In a somewhat similar fashion the beautiful lake of the
capital, although but forty miles in length, is visited
by sudden cyclones. But storms occur only in the
daytime. Towards evening the boatmen weigh anchor
and their craft carrying cargoes of grain sail safely

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^ I

u

^. E

o|
w Si

O 'O

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A WARNING TO EVIL DOERS 227

up to the canal which connects this lake with the city
thirty li away.

My good friend, Mr. Pollard, who had travelled
with me for several days (and a kinder and more help-
ful companion I never had), walked out of the city
with, Mr. Rhodes to say " fare thee well." I was
sorry when we parted. " A fellow-feeling makes us
wondrous kind." When well out from the city, the
view back from the first hill can never be forgotten.
In the distance lies the city, with a smokestack; the
odd craft on the lake and their weird reflections, the
well-built stone road reaching for many li out of the
city, crooked, of course, to make the bridges at right
angles to the streams, but chiefly to fool the spirits
and dump them in the rice patches ; far away the distant
mountains; above, the fleecy clouds, and below, the
cursed poppy growing luxuriantly! Later in the day
I met soldiers carrying Winchester repeating rifles. I
also met a thunderstorm in a good state of preserva-
tion. It had been hung up in the northern sky, and
from there swept over us with rain and lightning in
goodly proportion.

It was not until I had travelled more than two-
thirds of the way across this great country that I saw
a detached human head in a slat box on a pole twelve
feet high, a ghastly warning to evil-doers; and, curi-
ously enough, in the market village of Anning I
stopped with the inn-keeper whose son, a lad of sixteen
years, was murdered, without known cause, at the place
where the head was placed. The head belonged to the
murderer of the boy. The face was towards the east,
the eyes were closed, and two fine white upper teeth
were showing. There is something to be said in favour
of executing a man on the spot where he perpetrated
the crime. Especially is this to be recommended for

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228 BARBAROUS CUSTOMS

Chinamen, who have the phrenological bump of local-
ity as well developed as any people on this planet.
In England the public hangings have been discon-
tinued by Act of Parliament because it brutalized the
populace. At Ganking there is a loathsome custom.
At the execution, people fetch pieces of bread, dip
them in the criminal's blood and eat them, believing
that the blood will tone up their courage or relieve
certain diseases. The punishment which is inflicted
on murderers of parents, elder brothers, or husbands
is horrible. To this torture the Chinese give the cheer-
ful name of " Ling Chi," or lingering death by hacking
to pieces. Outside the city the doomed man is bound
to a post, with a piece of wood tightly fixed across the
mouth to prevent his shrieking. A vast crowd
gather, not dissimilar in appetite for human blood to
the multitude who filled tier upon tier, aisles and lictors*
places in the Colosseum at Rome. The executioner,
having whetted his knife, proceeds to the frightful tor-
ture. He makes a slit in the skin over the eyebrow^,
and drawing it down pins it to the cheek. A gash
is made opposite the nostrils, and, fresh with human
blood, it lies open to the wind. The operator becomes
enthusiastic, and after making these horrible incisions
and gashes and forming flaps over the human body,
suddenly draws back his hand and ends the dreadful
agonies of the victim by driving his knife into his
heart. In such an instance if the criminal had money
— ^not sufficient to purchase his discharge, but enough
to modify his punishment, the executioner would then
do his work; but do it very quickly, and the victim
would be stupefied by a powerful drug ; but the effect on
the multitude would be none the less brutalizing.

From the capital to Ts'u-Hsiang, a distance of four
hundred and eighty li, the road passed over mountains,

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OLD PAN 229

along beautiful valleys, and across fertile plains. There
seemed to be a revival of prosperity. Seldom did I
see a large village without one or more houses in
course of erection. The whole region was swept by
the scourge of war during the Panthay Rebellion. For
hours at a time, however, it was a mournful and deso-
late district through which we travelled. The bleak
barren mountains and the absence of people made
the way cheerless indeed.

Four days out, early in the afternoon, having passed
through the only Fu between the capital and Tali, we
entered Pan's monster inn, located in the western sub-
urb. Pan has given his establishment a progressive
name — " Everlastingly Increasing Inn " — and as it
is the largest in the city, and the biggest between the
capital and the Burman line, it may have been in-
creasing for aught I know. Pan said it held three
hundred people — ^he did not say how many it could
accommodate — ^and eighty animals. He had one son,
so all the excellent qualities of old Pan were concen-
trated in Panny. Old Pan (honourable title) was
bom on the First Sun of the Correct Moon of the
Thirtieth year of Taokwang. He had three mous-
taches—one over his mouth, and one over each eye,
and talked through his nose; why I know not, be-
cause his mouth was sufficiently capacious for all
purposes. He had the slick Chinese expression which
signifies " I love you much, but your money more."
In the year of the Dragon Old Pan struck this planet,
and he wore an ancestral smile when he told me his
son " belonged " in the Pig year. " How many taels
are you worth ?" "None, none," he shouted with
a vision of magistrates, tax-collectors, poverty, , and
an ancestor twenty years ahead of his time coming
before him. " What is the best thing you ever did ? "

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230 BOHO

" Buy things and sell them," was Pan's prompt reply.
He could see through a cash, but he did not see through
all these questions. A foolish missionary once asked
a native Christian, " Where was Moses when the light
went out ? " The earnest fellow stayed up all night
and searched the Scriptures. The answer pained the
Chinaman, but the missionary was cured of his folly.
Pan said we were the most distinguished visitors he
had had in the history of the Everlastingly Increasing
Inn. I was inclined to like Panl Travellers are
scarce in the fifth, sixth and seventh Moons, but
ordinarily there are one thousand guests per moon.
Old Pan had very long finger nails.

This place is the headquarters of Boho, so I made
lengthy enquiries about it. Boho is a wonderful
article made from the essence of a little vegetable.
It possesses a wide reputation as a cure for stomach-
ache. This long-sought-after and eagerly-expected
Boho is made by fourteen respectable families who
may have an hereditary right to accumulate wealth
from Boho. Here it is purchasable at the astonish-
ing low rate of five taels for one hundred pounds,
wcfighed by the purchaser, and in Yunnan Qty it
sells with a druggist's profit at ten taels, weighed by
the seller. A few drops of this wonderful Boho in
water distilled or undistilled is a " King pin potion "
for colic. A large stomach requires a few additional
drops. Five cash worth will cure an ordinary
stomach-ache; seven cash a medium-sized stomach;
and ten cash the largest stomach in the Province of
Yunnan. One thousand pounds of the dried leaves
go out of the city each year. How much is consumed
locally I failed to learn. This will be an important
item for some future traveller to discover. The world
should know how much Boho is consumed within

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A MYSTERY REVEALED 231

the walls of this city. It is fortunate that this dis-
covery remains open for some future explorer, be-
cause there are no missionaries here for eccentric,
sensation-loving, sponging globe-trotters to pitch
into. I mean those gentlemen who spread

"falsehdod under saintly show,
Deep malice to conceal couched with revenge/'

I wish to commiserate such gentlemen on the lack of
their favourite subject to lie about, and the absence
of opportunity to fill up their stomachs free of charge ;
and congratulate them because here is the mystical
Boho, which would be good for their stomachs (I
should recommend a ten cash dose), and the investi-
gation might stimulate the grey matter under their
scalps so that they may be able to discover at least one
decent, respectable, honest, sober, kind-hearted, con-
scientious missionary in Qiina.

I asked the inn-keeper. Pan, how many stomach-
aches he reckoned the exported one thousand pounds
of boho would cure. He said that depended on the
size of the ache, and I submit that it also depended
on the size of the stomach. Later old Pan estimated
that one pound of boho will cure fifty men if their
aches are not too large. One pound costs but eighty
cash. The residents claim that as the best boho on
earth grows here, people frc»n all parts come to this
city to get it. This was enchanting. I could almost see
an American patent medicine man's mouth water for
boho. Then a vision of advertisements. Get boho. Take
boho. Boho cures. Boho aroused my curiosity, and I
employed a nimble young pig-tail to go and pluck some
leaf for me. He returned later in the day with boho.
And behold! it was peppermint! The same kind I
gathered when a boy, beside clear springy and beautiful
streams in far-away Bucks County, Pennsylvania !

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232 A FISHY STORY

Seldom on the roadside in Yunnan have I seen an
idol. These had been smashed up by the Moslems,
Great was the wrath of the green flag Mohammedan
generals when they saw a graven image, and equally
vigorous the motive and movement for the spoils, as
each large idol was said to contain treasures or valuable
metals and precious stones. Would it not have been
better for Chinese and Christendom if England had
not interfered in the Taiping rebellion?

In Ts'u-Hsiangfu I had interviews with two individ-
uals belonging to very different classes of society. One
was the scholar, Mr. "Reverently Protecting." He said
there were sixteen temples in the city, great and small.

The other was with Old Cup, sixty years of age.
We met him in the temple, a fat, smiling c(Mnfortable
local deity. Cup keeps a tray at the Great East Gate
where we entered. He vends small confections, and
if he sells three hundred cash worth a day, it is a big
sale. Sometimes the people purchase only eight cash
worth. If he takes in a hundred cash he makes
thirty cash nett profit, that is, if he sells goods to the
value of five gold cents he makes two cents profit.
On these profits he provides for himself and family.
It is folly to expect the densely populated portions of
China to adopt our wickedly expensive civilization.
Let the Chinese dwell peaceably with their simple
habits; but counsel them in matters of morals and
religion. Cup talks so loud that he seems to be trying
by the sound process to attract the attention of the deaf
people on Mars. Otherwise, being well dressed, he is
genteel for the position he occupies. For residence he
rents a part of the temple buildings. He told me that
on the west mountain, one li outside the city, to the
east side of the Temple T'ao U, is a well which has a
history. At the time of the rebellion, some thirty years

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COFFINS AS GIFTS 233

ago, the frightened people hid their silver and other
valuables in this well. When the troubles were over
and the remaining owners came to get their property,
suddenly a black cloud arose accompanied by thunder
and lightning and a terrific wind. This was sure proof
to the superstitious people that the gods were opposed
to their receiving the valuables back, so they have left
them there to this day. The story is rather " fishy."

Ts'u-Hsiangfu to Talifu, a distance of five hundred
and twenty-fiye li, was done in four days. The first day
we passed a very long train of donkeys loaded with
coffin boards made of the very heavy ironwood. When
Mr. McCarthy was making his first great journey
from Shanghai to Bhamo in eighteen hundred and
seventy-seven, he met General Yang, who had put
down the Mohammedan rebellion. The famous
general was followed by hundreds of men carrying
coffin boards, which he intended to present to
his various friends. Yang was so full of the coffins
that, after the annihilation of the moslems, he boomed
up the undertaking business more than any man
in the Province. Having begun, he could not stop
short, but put a few by for his friends. It is fre-
quently the case when renting a house in China, that
the landlord desires to insert in the agreement that
a room must be reserved for the coffins of himself
and wife. A missionary sometimes has to sleep on
a coffin containing a body which has occupied those
quarters for many years. The coffin boards are four
inches thick, cemented and hermetically sealed, so it
is not a very serious affair. The greatest compliment
a son can pay his parents is to present each of them
with a coffin before they grow old and die.

Before we reach Talifu I shot an edible crane,
weighing fifteen pounds.

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Heaven begat five sons, and the five seas trouble ChuuL— F«/^ar
Prophesy,

CHAPTER XVIL

TALIFU — ^STORY OF THE DEMON NO KAI — ^A

MOHAMMEDAN RISING — ^A CHINESE SANATORIUM

— A CHINESE SHOEMAKER AT WORK.

[IKE Yunnan City, Talifu lies in
a basin on the shores of a
beautiful lake. The journey
between these two cities is
ordinarily thirteen days, but
my caravan did the distance
in eight days; that is, on the
^^•''^^tobSS*^^^ ninth day out from the Pro-
vincial Capital I entered that
fair city whose Chinese name signifies " Great Rea-
son." On Sundays we stopped to rest and take precau-
tions against becoming heathen. Talifu is the best
fortified city in Western China. If defended by a well-
disciplined and equipped army, it would be impreg-
nable ; indeed, it proved to be so when once a horde
of rebels with clubs, bows, and spears attacked it.
The military strength of Talifu lies in the two out-
flanking fortifications on the north and south of the
city. The plain upon which the city is built narrows
at both ends into two passes, and the town is situated
on the western margin of the majestic lake, and behind

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TALIFU 235

the walls the dull, heavy slopes of the Ties Tsang
mountains rise into colossal cliffs, snow-covered and
serrated on the sky line. The utmost summits are
full fourteen thousand feet above the sea, and
stand out bold and cold seven thousand feet above
the plain. The Moslem forces failed to carry the
passes at the ends of the plain, but finally succeeded
in capturing the city by descending and forcing their
way across fields of snow supposed to be impassable
in the western mountains bade of the city. For this
feat the Mohammedan insurgents deserved the success
they achieved.

Night had fallen on the city when we approached the
south entrance. The huge double gate was locked,
but one of our guard soon had the hinges squeak-
ing, and by the time all our lanterns were lighted
we had free access. The streets, busy in the daytime,
were forsaken, and save for dogs and occasional per-
sons who came out of their houses with monster lan-
terns and held them high to view the caravan, we
passed unnoticed down South Gate Street under the
Great Drum Tower and swung into East Gate Street ;
our coolies and chairmen, feeling glad that the end of
the journey was near, stepped up quickly and sharp,
and turning into Kill Sheep Street, stopped at the
China Inland Mission premises. These native build-
ings are unsuitable for extensive work, so larger and
more pretentious houses are being prepared. The new
property of the mission will cost but eleven hundred
taels, a ridiculously small sum for such a fine batch
of buildings. One fact I have carefully noted. All
over China the missionaries use the contributions of
the Church people at home with the most scrupulous
care and economy. I was cordially greeted in
Talifu by Mr. McLean, a Canadian, and I accepted

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236 A LEGEND OF THE LAKE

his kind invitation to remain with him during my
stay. This was the last mission I was to see on Qiina
soil, for I had arrived near the British line.

There is a legend as to the making of the plain.
The people of Talifu say that in very ancient times
the waters of the " Sea," as they call the lake, cov-
ered the plain. The lake and surrounding region were
then ruled by a monster demon called No Kai, who
lived by eating human eyes. He is described as having
eyes starting out of his head, with mouth like a hen's
bill, covered with red hair — z. creature who went naked
and managed to move about with wings. Sixty pairs
of human eyes constituted his daily fare, the supply
of which was no little burden to the people around the
lake. After a time their distress attracted the atten-
tion of the goddess of Mercy, who determined to hin-
der the work of the old rascal and deliver the people
from the power of their oppressor, so she appeared
as an old person before the monster and asked him to
sell her as much land as her yellow dog could leap
over in three bounds, and of the width from east to
west of her holy garments, in exchange for a daily
supply of food. The wily goddess substituted sixty
pairs of shellfish for human eyes, and the monster did
not discover the difference. To the surprise of the
demon, the dog leaped from the upper to the lower
customs barrier, a distance of one hundred and ten li.
Stranger still, the garment stretched and stretched and
stretched until it covered the whole space between the
lake and the mountains. When the demon saw all this
he was wroth, and could hardly contain his anger. He
declared he would not keep his word, but the goddess,
calling him to look at two great stones, threatened
to bring the two together and imprison him between
them if he failed to keep his promise. But if he kept

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A DEMON OUTWITTED 237

his word, she would build him a great emperor's
palace! It would appear that the goddess of Mercy
considered No Kai a dangerous individual to have at
large. He agreed to this proposition, and the goddess,
having created what appeared to be a grand palace,
invited him to a sumptuous feast with his two brothers,
and they all sat down together. As they were eating,
the goddess changed into a bee and flew away. The
palace in reality consisted of the two large stones,
which gradually moved together and enclosed the three
brothers who had been drinking a delightful concoc-
tion prepared to stupefy and bewitch them, so that they
did not notice the contracting of their banqueting hall
until too late to escape.

The demon cried out from the inside : " I gave you
the ground you wanted and you have lied to me."
The goddess smiled and prophetically answered him,
" When there are no people on this land on the eighth
day of the third month, you may come out of this
prison." Ever since that day the people are careful to
keep up a great market outside the West Gate on the
Eighth Sun of each Third Moon. The stones in which
the demon is supposed to be enclosed are forty li north
of the city, and are to-day a monument and evidence
of the truthfulness of the story.

The monster afterwards determined to exercise him-
self by making a road across the lake by breathing
hard into the water through the small opening left
between the stones. He seemed to be in a fair way
to succeed, when the goddess saw bad intentions in
this performance, and concluded to stop it. It appears
that certain monsters in China, like this particular
one, can only work at night, and that the first streak
of 'dawn puts an end to their labours. The goddess,
hearing No Kai breathing hard into the waters at

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238 MARBLE SCULPTURE

night, stood outside the prison, crowing like a cock
and making a noise like the flapping of a cock's wing^.
The monster, hearing this, thought it was morning and
gave up the work.

When the people assemble on market days guns are
fired to let the monster know that he cannot go free !

The city of Talifu is not at all remarkable for its
size, having only about three thousand families, but
is famous for its marble and its skilled engravers in
stone. The marble shops are located near the three
pagodas, and the material is brought from the moun-
tains and worked into monuments and ornamental
slabs. On the way here we passed many donkey-loads
of this beautiful white stone. The works employ about
one hundred and fifty workmen.

Here a hospital is soon to be opened. The only mis-
sions represented are the China Inland and the Roman
Catholic. A kind priest who has worked for over fifty
years for the conversion of the people of this Province
has reaped but scant harvest; and only a few have
joined the Protestant Church.

The Mohammedan who carried my camera had an
honest face and an interesting story. He was fifty-
four years of age, and had lived in the city fifty years.
His name was " Sweet-Smelling-Garden-Wood," and
he came originally from Yung Chang An. He gave
the following account of the great Mohammedan up-
rising in Yunnan : — Wicked people were plentiful, and
there was continual fighting between those who wor-
shipped idols and those who did not (Mohammedans).
The secret society, "Old Brothers' Club," created
much trouble and disorder. These men were finally
the cause of the rebellion. Doubtless the troubles orig-
inated in a row between the pork and beef butchers,
the former being idolaters and the latter Moslems.

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AN INSURRECTION QUELLED 239

The name of the Moslem leader was " The Good-
looking Literary Sprout." This haughty chief kept
possession of the city for eighteen years. Very few
Chinese stayed in the city at first, but when the Mo-
hammedan government was established many returned
to trade, and were all well treated by the Moslems;
they were compelled to forego shaving, letting the
hair on their heads grow. The Imperial troops were
a whole year getting into the city, and then it was
only by the treachery of one of the Moslem officers
who opened the gates. The Imperial General Yang
demanded that the Mohammedan king should give
himself up. This he did, but took a dose of gold in
solution before appearing before the conquering gen-
eral. He then pleaded that his people might be saved,
took a drink of water, and died in his chair. His
head was cut off and his poor defenceless men, women,
and children were massacred. A few having weapons
escaped. It is said that over twenty thousand persons
were slaughtered by the brutal Imperial soldiers, and
that people who walked along the streets got their
feet wet with human blood.

Sweet-Smelling-Garden-Wood was saved from de-
struction through the kindness of a general in the
Imperial army who, though a Mohammedan, had
not joined the rebellion. This general, " A-Pair-of-
Round-Horses," took Sweet-Smelling-Garden-Wood
and preserved him until ever5rthing was quiet. Talifu
was easily defended, because the garden walls and
houses were constructed of rounded stones and not of
mud. On one of these stone walls I stood to take a
photograph of the new mission buildings. These have
an interesting history.

Along North Gate Street Cantonese traders ex-
hibited all sorts of wares, foreign and native, for sale.

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240 A CURIOUS GRAVEYARD

They are a commercial people, and spread themselves
all over this Province. Large umbrellas covered the
butchers and their long slabs of pork. The Chinese
prefer pork, and it is difficult to buy mutton or beef
unless the butcher is assured of a wholesale deal.

Three li beyond the city, toward the north, are three
pagodas, the largest one being four hundred Chinese
feet high. (A Chinese foot is about three English
Inches.) Toward the south is another pagoda; in
fact, the city is well pagoda-ed, and the elements ought
to be properly balanced and good luck kept well in
hand. But whatever other use the pagoda may
have, it relieves the landscape and makes picturesque
some very ordinary scenery. Behind the pagodas
pure white snow glistened on the lofty mountains.
In the summer ice and snow are brought from the
mountains and sold in the public streets. The same
is done in Damascus, far away. The melted highland
ice and snow form many cold streams which flow down
into the lake. Many stone bridges span these streams
along the roads to Talifu.

I turned off thirty li from the main road to Bhamo
to visit Talifu. It was worth while as the place is
one of the beautiful spots in Western China. Indeed,
it is just the place for a sanatorium for missionaries
out of repair. A few weeks of recuperation there
would probably save the expense and time of sending
them home to recruit.

From the three pagodas I passed through a grave-
yard which, a Mohammedan friend said, is twenty li
long and three wide, and has several thousands of
people buried in it. The graves are mostly fronted
with a stone arch cut out of a single slab. In this, and
closing the entrance, is another thinner piece of
stone, on which the inscriptions are cut. This style of

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A CHINESE SHOEMAKER 241

gravestone is unlike any I have seen in China. They
stretched out as far as the eye could see, and gave to
the landscape an uncanny look, which was made more
uncanny still by the mound in which ten thousand,
who were slain on the retaking of the city by the
Chinese, are buried. Adjoining this monster ceme-
tery is the Third Moon Fair Ground, where " seven
or eight thousand tens" gather. On this ground is
a very large stone turtle, which is held down by a
heavy slab on his back, and next door to the turtle
is the Temple of Wealth.

Accompanied by six soldiers, sent to make it easy
for me to take photographs, we entered " Kill-Sheep-
Street,*' and had a tasty meal at the mission house.
One feature of the dinner was the large goose I had
myself shot as we passed along the road some thirty
li frcMn the city, and which a man had carried thirty
odd li, over ten miles, for two hundred cash, or ten
cents gold.

That afternoon a Chinese shoemaker came to put
half soles on my shoes, but I refused to have it done
unless I was present. At Chowtung I let a man take
away my shoes. He sewed soft leather soles on with
heavy twine a sixteenth of an inch in diameter, for
which I paid three hundred cash. As the huge stitches
were pulled through the inside sole, the twine came
through inside and gave me sore feet for a week, and
the new soles came off in thirty-six hours. Then, at
another place, I got a pair of top shoes made, Chinese
style, costing a tael and a half, or less than one gold
dollar, and although the maker took my measure,
they were an inch too short. At Tung Chuan I em-
ployed another man to make a pair, which were so
large that I put in a half-inch layer of cotton wadding,
and then they were still too big. So I got some nails

Q

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242 A SUCCESSFUL AMATEUR

from the missionaries, brass and iron ones of the right
length, an inch long, and sat down to see the per-
formance. The Chinaman ripped off the partly worn
soles and cut out thin ones to put on. I made him
put two on each shoe. Then he took an awl four
times the size of the nails, made great holes, and stuck
the nails in. Result, the soles came up and off as
fast as he put them on. Then I went to work myself.
Fortunately for me, when a boy I had seen kind Owen
Croman sole shoes in a little shop near my home in
Doylestown. With inconvenient tools, I, the shoe-
maker, went to work and managed to accumulate much
merit, I suppose, for the wily fellow charged me three
prices for the job! But I got the soles, and that was
important to one who likes to walk and hunt. I could
now appreciate the reasons for missionaries wearing
native outfits, for what the Chinaman and his ancestors
have made can be well made now and at reasonable
prices too.

" The lyfe so short, the craft so long to feme,
Th' assay so hard, so sharpe the conquering."

At Talifu we replenished our stock of v^etables,
fruit, and good nature.

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If you don't want anybody to know it, don't do iil^^History of
the Three States.

CHAPTER XVIIL

THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM — THE GODDESS OF
MERCY HALL — AN IMPREGNABLE FORTIFICA-
TION — ^AN ODORIFEROUS INN — MOSLEM COFFINS
— A KINDLY MULLAH — ^A PLAGUE OF INCENSE.

BOTH chairmen and coolies who had
come with me from Yunnan Fu
i were anxious to re-engage and go
r on to Burma, but as the last
— great section of the Across China

Tour is the longest, and in some
ways the most trying to the
physical capabilities of men and
beasts, it seemed best to get fresh
men for the remainder of the journey. I had thought
of taking horses, mules or donkeys, but there is
no question that for a long strain men can do
the best. Then, too, some of my men from Yun-
nan were great opium smokers, and unable to
endure continual exertion. Poor fellows, forging
the chains of a dreadful habit which will bring them
to poverty! When the intense desire for the drug
would come on in the afternoon and the " ying " or
habit got to work, I have seen the coolies lie down.

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244 THE YAMEN OF TAOTAI

unable to withstand the craving, and it would be diffi-
cult to get them up again.

The Viceroy having wired the officials at Tali to
give me every assistance, they called and offered their
services, so I put the matter of getting new men in
the hands of the City Magistrate. He gave his per-
sonal attention to the matter, and a better managed
affair one could not expect. My caravan consisted of
three mountain chairs with four men each, and ten
coolies carrying baggage over their shoulders. There
were also a boss coolie, and a man representing the
Yamen or magistrate, besides four red-coated " He-
roes," who escorted the company as guard,

Mr. Emberly, of the Inland Mission, who came out
from England only a year ago, walked with us for
thirty li. I said good-bye to kind Mr. McLean, and
the caravan moved off at a quick step, turning out of
Kill-Sheep-Street into East Gate Street, passing under
an insignificant tower related to the Temple of the
God of Literature into Big Street. The city appeared
to be deserted in the early morning ; only the scaven-
gers, the dogs, were to be seen. We passed the Likin
office, and went straight by the Five Glory Tower to
the Yamen of Taotai, which is the residence of the
military ruler of the Province of Yunnan. It was
formerly occupied by the Mohammedan Sultan. Per-
sons are permitted to walk through the place, but
animals and chairs must go round. Two monster poles
with wooden V-shaped cages two-thirds of the way
up, which, throughout all China, signify an official
residence, stand prominent and large enough to
catch all the bad spirits on their way down to dis-
turb official quietude and hold them in mid-air. As
we passed, a salute of one gun was fired, either in our
honour or as a signal to open the big south gate ahead

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Iixiii

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THE GODDESS OF MERCY HALL 245

of time in order that the distinguished visitors might
not be detained. We waited only a few. moments
for the old watchman to bring the huge rusty keys
and unlock the gate. One old cannon lay by the street
side and opposite were paper horses for sale. When
they are burnt the spirits of the dead will have some-
thing to ride on in spook-land.

We crossed a stone bridge and passed through vil-
lages which are only a shadow of their former size
and prosperity. Everything was very quiet, nobody
being up but the gods, and these were pasted up. A
single pagoda stands on the south side of the city to
look after the prosperity from that quarter. The road
all the way to Hsiakwan, a distance of thirty li, is
paved with stone ten feet wide, and is the straightest
I have seen in China. The boss coolie told me that
the Moslems did this work, and it was probably true,
for they are not disturbed by vindictive spirits who
despise straight roads. When near the tree of the
Third Moon Agreement, I was told that on the Plain
of Talifu there are three hundred villages in sight,
and three hundred and sixty temples. The villages
for the most part belong to aboriginal tribes, who
married Jhe first Chinese emigrants. They have a
language of their own, but know sufficient Chinese
for ordinary business. The most interesting object on
this road to the lover of legend is the Goddess of
Mercy Hall. Here, over the door, is the inscription,
" Great Stone Place." We stopped and rapped, but
were too early for the keeper, so we hastened on. In-
side is a mythical stone with a pavilion over it, sur-
rounded by a lily pond, about which the natives told
me a story. In the very early days, a Burmese army
was approaching to capture the city of Tali. The
Goddess of Mercy turned herself into an old woman

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246 A COVERED BRIDGE

and came along carrying this great stcme, as large as
a first-class cabin on an ocean steamer. A Burmese
soldier said to her, " Old mother, is that really a
stone ? " " Oh, yes," she replied. Then he asked
where the city was, and she told him it was in sight,
but if they went there the army would perish.
Disregarding her warning, they proceeded toward
the city. While they were drinking water at a
spring, suddenly a great wave came from the
mountain and engulfed many of them. The rest fled.
Then the Goddess of Mercy interposed to preserve the
city. It may be that she threw the stone in the upper
stream !

In less than two and a half hours we entered the
fortified city of Hsiakwan, passed through a series of
gates and walls, and stopped at the " Assembly-of-
the-Sea-from-Afar " eating house for " early rice."

This is, from the Chinese standpoint, an impr^-
nable fortification for the defence of Talifu. One arm
of the wall extends out to the narrow pass five li
from the city, our road nmning on the opposite bank
of the Yangpi River. Modem cannon could blow the
cactus oflF the crumbling battlements into the river
which flows out of the lake of Tali. The wall ends
in a tower of heavy masonry, with a graceful arch
spanning the highway. The sign over the road reads,
Heaven begets Virtue, Just here the river narrowed
to about ten feet, passing under an exquisitely beau-
tiful natural bridge. A woman, basket on back, with
a black hog's head sticking out, passed us. Tlie
porker grunted a salutation — better manners than of
ships that pass in the night. The road is in view of
a succession of rapids; and budding willows line
the two banks of the river until the Vine Bridge is
reached. Forty Li Bridge is a wooden-covered affair

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A VALLEY OF ENCHANTMENT 247

of single span, with many single holes in the roof.
This is the first covered wooden bridge I had seen in
China. Beautiful in that warm valley is the landscape.
Poppies are in bloom, peaches are in bloom, mustard
is in bloom, beans are in bloom — everything indeed is
in bloom in this valley of enchantment.

Leaving behind us Hsiakwan, we reached the village
of Tanchi Pu where I purchased eggs at six cash each,
or about three and a half gold cents a dozen. Thirty
feet from the river, just below this hamlet, is a huge
rock in the shape of a skull, twenty feet in length,
which resembles the funny pictures in American papers
of " Moike." It is detached and strongly suggests an
exaggerated face and head of an unusual Irishman.

The darkness was on when we entered the village of
Yangpi, where we were to stop over Sunday. Yangpi,
while only a town, is walled, and a military official
resides there. The place is a hundred and thirty li
from Talifu, and is important because it guards a
mountain road and pass, which, by the way, is fre-
quented by smugglers. It is said that some two thou-
sand Mohammedans tried to escape by this road when
Talifu fell, but the route to Yangpi being closed, they
all perished. I stopped at Righteousness Working
Inn, a most disagreeable place. There was no outlook
to my room, and the inlook was an open square or
court measuring twenty feet and used as a resting and
feeding place for four large black hogs and divers
others of moderate size. It belonged to the odoriferous
age. The miserable shanty was kept by one Chen,
which name might mean " Stinking." If so, the Inn
was properly named! In fact, I mig^t say, as Cole-
ridge said of Cologne :

"I counted two and seventy stenches,
All well-defined, and several stinks."

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248i GOITRE

Poor old fellow, he was sixty years of age, and was
suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, and his wife
had sciatica. He came there thirty years ago, and
built the place. A board hanging out in front ex-
plained that " Visitors are informed that officials,
business people, and others are invited to this newly'
opened inn."

Early Monday morning, before light, we left Yangpi
which is five thousand feet above the sea, crossed an
iron chain suspension bridge over the Yangpi River,
and began a steep ascent. Six lanterns and as many
flaming torches of split bamboo furnished light, as
we would be amidst strange and uncanny shapes up
the mountain side. The leading torch-man sets a bun-
dle of fir limbs afire, which was intended to head off
spooks, because a few graves were near by. In three
hours we were at an altitude over eight thousand feet
above the sea by our aneroid, among forests, mul-
berry trees, a variety of ferns, and other abundant
foliage. Some forty-five li from Yangpi are salt wells,
and the region, though very steep, is cultivated. A
chain suspension bridge, in good condition, spans the
Long River. It was early when, after doing one
hundred and twenty li, we entered the small village
of Kuanglien Pu to pass the night. My men had
done well, and were cheerful. Goitre, I found, is prev-
alent here. The landlady had a severe form of it, and
found difficulty in speaking.

On Tuesday, we made another one hundred and
twenty li. Starting at five thousand two hundred and
ninety feet above the sea, we climbed to eight thousand
four hundred and ten, and then down to five thousand
five hundred and twenty at Chutung, where I re-
mained for the night. At eleven a.m. the wind
suddenly arose to a gale. I have never met such

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A MINIATURE UNIVERSITY 249

sudden changes of the weather except on the sea of
Galilee. Soon after this tremendous wind we came up-
on five Japanese engineers; they were cordial, and all
spoke English. With my rifleman, I took a run down
the mountain to the beautiful plain of Yangping.

Amidst flowers and gazing people, I crossed this
plain to the village of Chutung and put up at the
" Come-Again " Inn. My room contained an old gun
of the two-man type, still turned out at the arsenal
at Yunnanfu. To operate it, one man holds it on his
shoulder and the other pulls the trigger, both getting
killed in the event of its bursting, which frequently
happens. The dangerous thing is over eight feet
long! The room was upstairs, and had a fine out-
look; in fact, the inn generally was good. Leaving
Autumn and Winter Street for a stroll, I turned out
of North Gate Street to Lordship Street, and entered
the grounds of the Moslem Mosque. On my way I
purchased sweet potatoes of an old hag, who charged
me just twice too much. A man standing near had
brass buttons with Queen Victoria's head on. The
outer gate of the mosque had a six-sided tower with
as many windows, used for a minaret. The whole place
was in good repair, eight hundred ounces of silver
having been recently expended for the work. There
are two hundred Moslem families in the place. The
Mullah greeted me kindly, and served tea in the open
school-room, where he teaches some sixty boys the
Koran in Arabic. They all eat beetlenut and limel
This miniature imitation of the great University of the
Mohammedans, El Azar, with its fourteen thousand
students, shows that the followers oif Mohammed are
Io3ral. On entering the gate, a strong odour struck
my nostrils, and turning, behold! two coffins lashed
to poles stood ready to be taken to the mountains for

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250 A CORDIAL MULLAH

burial. The Moslem coffins are not hermetically scaled
as the Chinese are. The former have movable boards
and when the corpse has been dropped into the
grave they do duty for years. The niche of the Mosque
is towards Mecca, and the worship-room, thirty by
fifty feet, showed a polished floor and skins for the
worshippers to kneel on. The Moslem leader called
on me at the inn in the evening, with his son, who
is suffering from a skin disease. We suggested soap,
giving him a piece, and prescribed lard, but he hesitated
at this, being a Mohammedan. He finally said " I will
use swine fat for medicine." When leaving this after-
noon, he presented me with an oragne just plucked
from one of the trees in front of the Mosque, so the
soap made us even. I was writing and he said, " put
down that I belong to the Mohammedan religion."
He is a cordial man, this Mullah, and says prayers
five times a day. On Friday, the Moslem Sunday, he
preaches to about eighty of the " faithful."

The Long Silver River which flows through theplain
rises suddenly in the seventh or eighth Moon, when
there have been heavy rains in the mountains. As
some people were stepping across from stone to stone,
eight years ago, a wave came without warning and
killed several of them before quickly receding.

On Wednesday, the fourth of March, or, as the Chi-
nese say, the sixth sun of the second moon of the twen-
ty-ninth year of the Emperor Kwang Hsu, and in the
cycle of sixty the Rabbit, we made an early start, and
had much the same climbing as on the day before.
We started at five thousand five hundred feet above
the sea, went up to eight thousand five hundred and
ten and came down to Pingpo, which is, according to
Baber, four thousand nine hundred and twenty, my
aneroid marking it at a little over five thousand feet.

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BRIDGES 251

In some parts of the way the underbrush was very
thick. At one time we met more than two hundred
horses and donkeys with foreign goods from Burmah.
The steep valleys leading from the plain of Shayang
Ho, up the mountains, are terraced and green. One
hundred feet below is a flat covered with whitewashed
graves, the whitewashing being attended to at New
Year's time. The graves point exactly south, as if
laid by a compass. I hung my pocket Fahr. ther-
mometer on a tall cactus in the sun, and it registered
fifty-two degrees. The village of Shayang Ho is
seventy-five li from Chutung. The entrance is over
a bridge, on which is erected a demon trap, i.e., a
small temple erected to the king of the demons. This
is supposed to be a safe plan for preventing his in-
feriors from interfering with the town's people. Near
the skew bridge is an official rest house. Two hun-
dred families the place boasts of and six temples.
There is a market every five days, at which time the
town is crowded. I " ate the afternoon " at " Greatly
Increasing Inn," and went on to the River Mekong,
twenty li distant, which I reached at half-past two
P.M. The descent at this point is by the most zig-
zag track I have seen or travelled in the Celestial
Empire. At the lower end of the turn is a fine road
supported on the river side by good masonry. This
appears to have been presided over by engineers. The
approaches to an iron suspension bridge are gorgeous.
There are few views superior to this on the Yapj^ze.
On the east end of the bridge is the inscription " Hills
High and Water Long;" on the west side " The west
must severely govern." The suspension bridge spans
sixty yards where the river issues from a dark gorge,
and was rebuilt last year at a cost of eight thousand
taels, the money being given by officials and the

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252 A GREAT MAN

wealthy gentry. So said the Likin barrier man, who
was located at the east end of the bridge. All the sus-
pension bridges in Yunnan seem to be constructed on
the same principle. Chains of oval' links about seven
inches long are drawn across, leaving a slight curve,
and fastened in masonry at the ends. Two side chains
are swung to protect the traveller against falling over.
Planks are laid on the chains to walk on. How the
Chinese tighten these chains I could not learn. The
Mekong Bridge is protected by temples and divers
idols. Five li up the western ascent is the village of
Mekong Terrace, or Pingpo. Five hundred feet below
this place flows the beautiful Mekong, and on the
opposite or eastern side the mountains tower precipi-
tous and bare.

I asked an old resident, " Have you had no scholars
or great men here in the past ? " The reply was " No.
The children even do not learn to read; we only at-
tend to our eating and work." It is a great fallacy
to suppose that the Chinese are educated. Millions
of children go to school, it is true, for three years,
during which time they are taught the formation
and sound of character, but not the meaning; the
greater number never learn the sense except of the
few characters used in their trade or business. The
Pingpo man corrected himself and said, " Yes, we have
had one great man." " What did he do ? " I eagerly
inquired. " O, he lived to be one hundred and seven
years of age."

* In my upstairs room were the God of Riches, the
Ancestral Tablet, and a paper pasted between the two
to heaven and earth. On a table in front of them
were various urns for burning pulverized incense. They
were four-fifths full of ashes already. The young
grandson of the hundred and seven years grandfather

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A PLAGUE OF INCENSE 253

came up and placed two urns before the God of Riches,
evidently intent on working him for all he was worth,
and one each before the ancestral tablet and the heaven
and earth. Then he put incense to each. The even-
ing before it was a Moslem who was not ashamed of
his religion; this night an idolater was not ashamed
of his.

Incense to heaven and earth, ancestors, and god of
riches filled the room, so that I could not sleep. The
young fellow came and started the things going, and
then left me td smell them. I offered to throw the
whole batch out of the window, but that saddened
the interpreter who had a vision of a riot, so I con-
cluded to let them have their ancestors, heaven and
earth, and god of riches until they can get something
better. However, I extinguished the incense. In ad-
dition to these drawbacks, about sixty donkeys were
stopping with us at the inn, their keepers sleeping
soimdly beside their goods in the open court.

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Effective medicine embitters the mouth, but heals disease.
Faithful words offend the ear, but reform the conduct

—Domestic Analects,

CHAPTER XIX.

A WEIRD PROCESSION — A WEDDING REPAST —
— ^AN ANCIENT FESTIVAL — ^THE VALLEY OF THE
SHADOW — ^THE MONSTER OF THE SALWEEN
RIVER— COOLIE SUPERSTITIONS — ^AN UNGRATE-
FUL PATIENT.

T cock-crowing on March fifth,
we left the inn and incense,
but no insolence, of Pingpo
with lanterns, flaming torches
and four guards. The ar-
rangement of the caravan
was on this wise. First a
hero, then a local torch-man
Bridge with Demon Trap, carrying the split bamboo af-
fair making great light and flame, after him my moun-
tain chair borne by four sturdy fellows, then the
interpreter's chair, also borne by four, then a torch-
man, who, in turn, was followed by the secretary's
octoped vehicle with torch-man. Then followed more
heroes, the long line of coolies carrying luggage and
" chow," the boss coolies and a single hero. At my side
marched a nimble soldier with the repeating rifle on his
shoulder. He had orders to keep within ten feet of me

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A STRANGE PROCESSION 255

all the time. Amidst the barking of dogs, the proces-
sion slowly went up the deserted street between two
rows of thatched mud huts, filed out of the west end,
and at once began the ascent of the steep mountain.
The light of the flambeaux flung weird, ghostly shapes
into the dark ravine. The effect was heightened when
the mischievous torchman set the long grass afire and
the gloomy mountains were reddened with an imcer-
tain light to the sky line. In the dense darkness ahead,
the noise of a waterfall told us we were far from
the summit. A good road zig-zagged upward. Paved
with stone and guarded by a balustrade of the same
material split and set on edge, the path gave no
anxiety, but some exertion. In several places the
road lay high on single arch stone bridges, spanning
mountain torrents far below. Near one of these
picturesque bridges were stone tablets standing per-
pendicular, inscribed on which were characters ex-
pressing praise of comfortable men who contributed to
the construction of the bridges. Next to the memorial
slabs was a demon trap. Two hours out of Pingpo
we entered Water Refuge, passed by two wells without
stopping, and before three hours of the day's journey
were over our aneroid registered over eight thousand
feet. Now, as Pingpo was less than five thousand
feet above the sea, our course had been distinctly up-
ward. The road was good, the scenery grand, and
the small steep cultivated valleys, containing a few
sheltered huts, lodced peaceful. The population was
sparse with little to warrant the statement of certain
statistical gentlemen who have never travelled in the
Province, that the inhabitants numbered over six
millions. Men of experience tell me that many such
vacant stretches exist. If that day's observation is
a gauge for an estimate, I am not far wrong in saying

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256 A TRADE IN COFFINS

that the population is not more than five millionSy
at the very most. On this day, batches of donkeys
with long ears and short tails, driven by men with
short ears and long tails, passed us going to fetch salt.

After going fifty li we stopped at Bullock Yoke
Hamlet, composed of two eating, or rather nibbling,
houses, and no bullock, for early rice. We carried
in a Chowtung basket native sponge cake, onions, and
other vegetables, lest we should be delayed at these
wayside inns. Here I ate a new kind of rice, the
stickiest rice I ever met with. I had breakfast before
eating it, and took it simply to cap the climax.
Later — ^the cap was still on! A company of Can-
tonese mendicant merchants who trade in all sorts
of merchandise (including opium), stopped at Bullock
Yoke to rest. Four were heavily armed with gtood
rifles. Our caravan descended to Externally Existing
Plain, on the road down to which I saw graves re-
sembling inverted coal scuttles.

The place is celebrated for coffins and dyeing, and
has about five hundred families. Huge stacks of cof-
•fins and dyed cloth with cheerful suggestions salute
the visitor's eyes. On the journey from Bhamo to
Talifu, the merchandise trains usually stop to change
horses and repair damages at Wooden Bridge, for the
place boasts plenty of smiths. Just outside the village
a wooden bridge spans the river, which irrigates the
famous Yungchang Plain. Beyond, the road lies
along a causeway, beside which field reservoirs have
been constructed over against the rainless month.

While crossing the plain I purchased a beautiful
Amherst pheasant for two hundred cash. It was
too pretty to kill, so the interpreter kept it to take
home.

Along the route incense sticks and paper mcMiey

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CHOICE PARTS OF A CHICKEN 257

were placed to placate evilly inclined ghosts^ and give
the fresh spirits cash for spirit travel.

The North Gate of the Fu cSty of Yungchang is
hardly entered before the vacant places, with growing
crops, and ruins, indicate more prosperous times in
the past. The open spaces are now sufficient to grow
food for a defending army. The city is but a
shadow of its former glory. The Glad House Inn,
kept by Victorious Li, provided me an upper room,
which was seldom used except for storing away things
and dirt. I tore some red paper off a beautiful view
of the Holy Hill, with many temples and other spirit
affairs picturesquely perched on its side.

After a brief halt, I left Glad House Inn, which
fronts on Concentrated Gladness Street, passed into
Deputy Prefects Street, and took a snap-shot at two
prisoners heavily ironed and chained.

The temple to the God of Literature was in tolerable
repair. We turned front this into Prefect's Door
Street, and passed the Fu Yamen into Rough Grass
Street, which leads directly up to the Holy Hill, or, as
the Chinese familiarly call it, Peace-Preserving HiU.
The central temple belongs to the God of Riches. A
variety of foliage lends charm to the view. Beyond
the Dragon Gate is a modest pagodia keeping, the
" Balance of the elements." Near the Dragon Gate
a wedding procession passed us. The beast was on
a tray, but the most important dish was a chicken's
head and two wings. It was en route to the bride's
house. The Chinese in this section have a queer notion
about these three choicest parts of an old hen.

The Horse God Temple was a curious aflPair, but we
hastened on down New Tablet Street to the stone tab-
lets erected some three hundred years ago, after which
the street is named. These were to commemorate

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2S8 STONE FLOWER CAVE

the ability of two or three generations of the Stone
family, whose distinguished sons won the highest de-
grees given at Pekin. I was told by a local " anchor-
ite " that the Emperor issued an Edict for its erection,
and the gentry paid the bill.

A district magistrate had ordered the huge city gates
to be opened very early in the next morning to let us
pass. The regular time is at sunrise. I said " Go
slowly " to Glad House Inn, and departed about the
fourth watch. Soon after leaving the city we began
to ascend. I was in advance of the procession, when
suddenly two of the soldiers came and pointed to a
wall of rock which, in the dim early light, I could
distinguish. They indicated by gestures something
very special. Quick as a flash, I thought of poor
Margary who was done to death ; nevertheless I fol-
lowed them to a natural cave caUed Great Stone
Flower Cave. It is located twenty li from Yimgchang
and five li from the village of Stone Flower Hall.
The entrance to this large cave is fifteen feet high
and fifteen wide. By turning directly to the right
one enters the cave proper. It is said to extend a
great distance into the mountains. At the entrance is
a shrine in which are three idols, the Supreme Ruler,
the Lord of the Cave, and the God of the Earth, with
two attendant images. These deities are there on
guard, for it is generally supposed that demons inhabit
the dark recesses of this vast cavern. For over three
hundred years the people and officials have assembled
in thousands on the fifteenth day of the first moon
to worship, while hundreds of traders take this op-
portunity to dispose of their goods. As the worship is
only for one day, people do not come beyond a radius
of fifty H. My men could not tell who originated this
festival. The main purpose is to propitiate the

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A DEADLY VALLEY 259

gods in order that prosperity may wait upon the city.

Soon after noon I left my chair and hustled. The
soldiers carrying the rifle, camera, etc., were too slow,
so I toc^ these things away from them, handed part
to the faithful boy Li, and the balance went over my
own shoulder. We struck off for the Salween River
to take photographs of the famous bridge before dark.
I wanted the whole caravan to go and stop there
over night, which it could easily have done. But the
men were afraid of the deadly valley which, since
the days of the old Venetian traveller, Marco Polo,
has had an evil reputation. The boss coolie, with a
flush of pride, just as if he cared for the men, told how
the lives of his men were more precious than much
silver. A huge joke that. He himself had the shakes
in the valley of the shadow of death. Well, it was
the hardest tramp I have had on this Across China
trip. The sun hot, the road rough, the soles of my
shoes thin, nothing to eat since nine a.m., except four
small pieces of native nut cake, and no place to get
hot water, and the heavy load to carry. Several times
I sat down to rest, and was tempted to drink of the
clear water at the roadside, but the knowledge that it
had probably come from a rice patch fertilized with
human ordure caused me to desist. When about ten
li from the bridge, I spied a tea shop and made for
it. A thatched roof was welcome, even though there
was nothing to refresh the inner man except sweetened
rice and hot water.

I soon devoured a basin of popped rice and hot
water and felt much better. Then on I started for the
bridge, in order to get there before sundown. The road
was up and down on the side of a steep valley. Cactus
and donkeys with piece goods from Burma were in
evidence. After many vicissitudes, tired out, but

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26o A DEMON TRAP

victorious, I went down the cut stone steps to the
double suspension bridge in time *to take a photo of
the demon trap by the stairs; then passed the temple
to the Goddess of Mercy, and, stopping to rest for a
moment, saw the soldier breathing through his cap.
He was afraid to inhale the air of the valley, which
is said to be a veritable plague spot. It may be
unhealthy and malarious, but not to such an extent
as the superstitious natives declare. The valley lay
before me, exceedingly beautiful; it might be "the
smile of the siren." At certain times few persons
venture across, but this was the healthiest season of
the year.

The chain bridge, or rather bridges (for there are
two in the mysterious valley) is over one hundred
and forty yards long over the water. It extends over
boulders on each side. These are covered with water
in the rainy season. Supporting the chains in the
midst of the river is a massive pier built on the nat-
ural rock. Many workmen were engaged in repairing
the structure, over two thousand taels being expended
for this purpose. So when I reached the pier it was
necessary to descend to the boulders and clamber over
them to the other side.

The other span was ready for use, but a lucky day
had not come to open it. It had been discovered that
the third sun of the third moon of this (Rabbit) year
would be the lucky day. But it was necessary for
me to stay in the small village at the west end of the
bridge. A citizen was anxious to have me stop with
him by the river side, but I indicated that the Likin
barrier would suit me better, where there was a yard,
full of timbers being dressed for the bridge, overshad-
owed by a fine banyan tree. I saw no evidence of
the plague which is said to desolate this beautiful

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AN AMPHIBIOUS MONSTER 261

spot. A healthier looking lot of people I have not
seen in China. The crowd was curious but polite, as I
sat in the Likin Porch and watched the lamp, which
someone had lighted, shine out of the demon trap
across the river.

A huge amphibious monster is said to live in the
Salween river. He is supposed to be responsible for
the deadly plague, and subsists on men and mules that
fall into the water. In case none fall, he comes out
after them. One day, while a Chinese soldier was on
the high bank, the monster showed himself. The sol-
dier raised his gun, took aim, fired and wounded it
in the side. Then he asked the Shans of the village
who were standing around to help him catch the crea-
ture. The Shans refused, saying that if they killed
the beast the malaria fever would cease, and then the
Chinese would come and seize their happy valley.

** Rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of."

After dark the coolies, carrying my puk^i and
boxes, arrived, and I managed to get something to eat.
My bed was made up in the entry of the Likin, and be-
fore eight I was asleep. The lights of curious passers-
by woke me several times, but I got " a little sleep, a
little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep "
till eleven, when the gambling, opium smoking, and
drinking ceased, and the big double -doors were locked.
The two soldiers slept just beside the door. My cam-
eras, tripod, rifle and other things were left beside me,
where it would be easy for someone to carry them off,
but nothing was disturbed. Near by was a pool of
stagnant water breeding all sorts of microbes. A
monster rooster slept next me, and duly flapped his
wings four times and emitted af crow according to his
size at the proper time. Baneful rats were charging

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262 PLAGUE

about, and I thought Canton perhaps gets the plague
from this rat centre. Many temporary grass huts have
been erected for the coolies, carpenters, and stone
masons working on the bridge. But the coolies prefer
to cross this valley before sunrise, which is the
very worst part of the day. They are superstitious,
and superstition works disaster in thousands of ways
to the Chinese.

When Mr. John McCarthy crossed the Salween in
eighteen hundred and eighty seven, he was told a
variety of stories, many of which are still on tap.
At that time only those having urgent business
ventured to cross. He was warned not to wash
his hands while in the lethal valley because the
flesh might fall off. The plague was then thought
to come from the earth. Dogs, cats and small
animals died first; then the pigs and larger animals
went the same way. All persons who remained
after the animal died were liable to become victims.
If a large spot appeared on the human body near a
vital organ, the disease would prove fatal; otherwise
there was hope of recovery. Houses were deserted,
and no one used an infected article. There is good
reason for believing that the plague reaches Hong
Kong from this point. One of the men who carried
Mr. McCarthy's baggage died on the way back, and
when he visited the place most of the people had de-
serted the valley and were camping on . the hill-
sides; many of the small hills were covered with
coffins. The Shans now cultivate the plain, and live
there all the year. Those who are bom on the plain
are not affected by the disease.

When ascending the mountain, for many miles one
can look back and see the iron suspension bridge.
The view from Homoshu is one of the best. The

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NOXIOUS MIST 263

point is five thousand five hundred and sixty feet above
the sea; the Salween is two thousand four hundred
and thirty. The plain below, cut into rice patches,
and here and there a sugar-loaf mountain protruding,
the peaceful river, the mountains and ravines on the
distant shore, form a picture to delight the lover of
natural scenery.

Homoshu is a mountain village, the terraces of which
are of flat stone, the houses of mud bricks. Bamboo
pipes conduct pure water to the houses and troughs
for man and beast. Here is the home of the celebrated
Centurion Heavenly Happiness Sheep. One of the
residents, a sort of mountain seer — ^the sage was he
who wore Victorian buttons — told me that in former
times the Chinese would not stop on this plain, but now
they only move away during the rainy season, when
the Likin men come up the mountain to sleep. In
the rainy season people see red, blue, and yellow mists
in the morning in the valley, and if a stranger breathes
these he will die. After a summer rain the pestilent
vapour slowly folds the beautiful valley in its deadly
embrace. The water falls on this yellow clay, and that
causes the yellow demon to exhale this yellow mist.
I asked Yang why they did not locate these demons
and make it hot for them. He said that the plain is
so large that people cannot locate them, and after
I suggested the planting of trees, he said they did
not know how to do this. The probable facts about
this sickness are that the region is not specially health-
ful, to begin with, and the coolies and others, haunted
by dread, find themselves tired out, and drink unboiled
water with the usual shaky results; then they think
they have swallowed the mist! Some of my coolies
did that very thing and got fever; all blamed the
valley for the bad effects!

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264 AN UNGRATEFUL PATIENT

Young Li, my man, got sick when we were over the
highest point of the pass, eight thousand seven hundred
and thirty feet above the sea. He lay down in the road,
squirmed, and screamed, " Save my life, save my life/'
I gave him medicine, and the natives treated him
Chinese fashion, baring the arms, wetting the skin
inside the elbows, and pinching him between the sec-
ond joints of the first and second fingers, also in the
neck, thus starting a counter-irritant. Again the pain
shook his frame, and he cried out still more vehe-
mently, " Save my life, save my life." We had him
carried in the chair while I walked, and when the med-
icines I gave him had time to take effect, he promptly
improved. He also ate ginger root put into his mouth
by one of his men, which was good for him no doubt.
The next day several of the men who disregarded
orders not to drink unboiled water, got sick and cursed
the mists in the valley. When Li got well there was
no expression of gratitude. I hope he thought it, for
he rode and I walked. Comforts, pills, mountain chair
and good wishes for him, but no thanks for us ! The
character and characters of the Chinese are equally
difficult to master. This region has been greatly
dreaded in former years, there is no doubt, but it must
now be more healthful, or perhaps the superstition is
giving way to practical common-sense.

I spent Sunday at the mountain village of Taiping-
pu, where there are Moslems and beef, and where the
women rise to their feet when a man passes. The air
IS pure. The hamlet lies about seven thousand eight
hundred feet above the sea, in the midst of wooded
hills and beautiful scenery. There is certainly less
iniquity in Mohammedan than in Buddhist villages.

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M. - ta :^ m "^

A thousand learnings are not worth one seeing.
CHAPTER XX.

CHINESE FAITH IN FOREIGN MEDICINE — ^TENG-

YUEH PLAIN A LEGEND OF TATUNG THE

ORIGIN OF PEAT CHINESE BILLS — WANT OF

MISSIONS IN TENGYUEH — BLUE FRIEND THREE
— ^A PEARL OF PRICE.

'HREE red-coated soldiers bivouaced
comfortably on the porch of the
official rest house in the mountain
village of Taipingpu. They built
a fire before our door and erected
some split bamboo matting to
head off the chilly mountain wind.
By half-past three in the morning
we were off with torches of split
cooktog Range. bamboo tied in bundles eight feet

long. The descent of thirty li to the Schweli or golden
water, began directly we left the hamlet. Our path lay
in a sunken road, full of the most surprising curves.
The rain, pouring down heavily, made uncertain step-
ping for our coolies, as we passed under arches formed
by overhanging trees. It would be a charming road,
I have no doubt, on a clear, warm day. Our torches
were exhausted when we reached Bamboo Hamlet,
but Mohammedan Horse, the elder at Taipingpu,
had foreseen this, so we had to wait merely to
light new flambeaux. In three hours the river was

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266 FOREIGN MEDICINE

reached, the descent being gradual as we passed along
easy slopes. The approach was by a covered wooden
bridge and a few hotises. Reaching the chain suspen-
sion bridge, which had wooden decking and palisades,
I found that we had descended thirty-five hundred
feet. The river ran clear in a deep gully, and soon
became " rapids." The other side was steep. A
half-hour's travelling brought us to the Olive Grove,
where a pause was made for early rice. No sooner
had we entered the inn when a poor fellow, with his
hand bloody and swollen, entered and knelt before
us, beseeching medical attendance. However the
Chinese may detest alien things they are certainly
willing to " eat " foreign medicine. Here we ordered
a fire, made on the floor, and dried our garments piece
by piece, assuming in the process various undignified
attitudes. When we were able to make a fresh start,
we crossed the one range which lay between Olive
Grove and Tatung, with difficulty and adventure.

Six hours later I suddenly came in sight of the
Tengyueh Plain, and, passing round a shoulder of
the mountains, had my first view of the city. The
plain is well cultivated, and has the appearance of
busy life, a welcome change after the barren and
sparsely populated country through which for many
days I had been passing. The beautiful plain was
three miles broad and several miles in length, and
lay a thousand feet down a steep grade. Twenty-five
villages were scattered about, and the town itself, a
huge oblong diagram surrounded by black walls, re-
sembled a large enclosed park rather than an impor-
tant city. At the bottom of a difficult road we b^gan
to thread our way through rice fields, in the watery
furrows of which groups of women were washing the
vegetables for the family meal.

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A LEGEND OF TATUNG 267

Tatung lies eight li east of the city. It, too, has its
legend. In the dim past there was a family of farmers
living there, one of whom, acting under a powerful
emotion, married a wife by whom he had five sons.
The first had a face of fiery red, and as soon as born
could speak, and act like a grown-up man. He straight-
way began to cut up capers, and entering the sacred
room, climbed up and sat down on the ancestral altar.
The father said, " Hello, this looks uncanny," and
forthwith killed him with a garden hoe. The second
son was born with a face of grassy green. As he also
arrived talking, and sat on the sacred ancestral altar,
the father whacked him over his green skull with the
same instrument and with the same result. The
third son had a mottled face, and he likewise ventured
to climb on the altar, and in consequence made his
exit by the garden hoe route. Each time one of the
boys was killed, some of his colour remained on the
wood of the hoe, so that the handle must have resem-
bled a painter's trial board. The fourth son was as
black as unmined coal, and was also finished in the
same handy way. The fifth son was white and said,
"Ah! I have come to be Emperor. Where are my
four genii ! " The mother gave the information that
the father had killed them. " Ah," said the son, " I
have no one to look after me," and he died of Chi,
anger. There was in those early days as now a grove
of bamboo around the place, and every bamboo
promptly split, and out of each joint came armed men,
horse soldiers, foot soldiers, and soldiers with lances
and bows and arrows — but none with Winchesters.
There were a thousand tens of them, and when they
heard that the fifth son, the Emperor, was dead, they
all conveniently died too,

' doomed to go in company with pain
And fear and bloodshed, miserable train I'

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268 THE ORIGIN OF PEAT

The family, seeing what they had done, were deeply
stricken with grief, and raised up a temple to the Son
of Heaven, which remains to this day and renders
any doubt of this story impossible. Shade of Cadmus
and the Dragon's Teeth !

My whole caravan, moving briskly, passed under
the arch erected to the memory of virtuous widows,
entered the city by the South Gate, and, turning a
comer to the left, marched between a double row of
monster umbrellas, and to the Imperial Chinese
Customs. My men cheerfully passed along the busy
South Gate Street, where umbrellas shaded small
assortments of little articles, prominent among them
being Japanese matches, American and English
models, boxes, and trinkets and penknives "made
in Germany." We hauled up in front of the yellow
dragon flag flying from a pole, the height out of all
proportion to the size of the Imperial banner. Here
I was cordially greeted by the staff, consisting of four
Britishers, who informed me that rooms were prepared
for my convenience in the British Consulate, which
I reached by turning down So-So Street. These were
pleasant quarters after the miserable native inns I
had been enduring.

The Consul had just left, having been ordered to
Canton, but the kind Indian, Doctor Sircar, with a
Sikh soldier, who always gave the military salute, was
in charge. There were also a Chinaman, a goat, a
pony and two dogs. The consulate was a native two-
storey building with an enclosure. A bright charcoal
fire was soon burning on the brazier. I had rather
expected peat, for,* crossing the plain, I had seen the
people digging it out in a way which reminded
me of far-oflf Shetland. I asked a Chinaman to
explain the origin of peat on the Tengyueh Plain,

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TENGYUEH 269

which he did in the following language : — "Peat came
from years and years ago, before they divided time
up, and when the fire, wind and water were all mixed
up and everything else was mixed up. The peat was
also part of the general mix up. When things settled
down a bit the peat stayed there ! " This being per-
fectly satisfactory to himself, there was no need for
further explanation.

Roughly speaking the City of Tengyueh is about two
li square, not exactly two li and not exactly square,
with a considerably diminished population after the
destructive Mohammedan rebellion, and its attendant
massacres and general ruination. The nimiber of peo-
ple living within the city wall is not aibove fifteen
thousand. The next day the market was held, and
I saw the numerous vendors under their umbrellas
in all their glory with foreign nails, knives, and piece
goods from Manchester for sale. All this business is
carried on without reference to clocks or watches. I
asked the Commissioner of Customs, Montgomery, to
give me the sundial time that I might set my watch.
This he did. I happened to look at the sundial the
next day and found that the time was very different
from that of the day before! Maybe the sundial was
not level, still it did well enough out there.

There are fourteen telegraph offices in the Province
of Yunnan, and eight hundred private telegrams
passed through Tengyueh last year. China has built
telegraph lines more rapidly than any other country,
although slow to begin. Away out in this western
country money can be wired from Shanghai! The
Imperial Post Office has been recently opened with
an average of two or three letters a week, the
people who write many letters still preferring the old
courier system, and there is much to be said in its

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270 FOREIGN DEVILS

favour. It is a nice little custom of the Chinese when
writing a dun or bill letter to place on the outside of the
envelope " Peaceful Family Letter ;" we write " Dear
Sir ! " There are but few temples in the city, the prin-
cipal one being to the god of Riches. It has splendid
halls and pavilions. Carpenters were at work putting
it in perfect repair. On the surrounding mountains
there are other temples perched in picturesque, but
very inaccessible, spots, which show up well as features
of the scenery. There are also pagodas in strategic
positions, piercing the sky like huge pencils. These
do sentinel duty for prosperity.

The city and plain lie in the midst of a region which
bears evidences both of ancient and modern volcanic
action. The markets of the city have for sale edible
woodcocks, grass pheasants, and other birds found
on the plain. A year ago foreigners had stones
thrown at them in Tengyueh, and people were very
rude; but all was peaceful at the time of which I
write, and instead of hearing " foreign hobgoblin,"
the Chinese never gave strangers the dignified
appellation of " foreign devil ;" it was " foreign gen-
tleman." Even if foreigners are called " devils," they
should not get over-excited about it, for the Chinese
call their children " devils " — ^and the term is not
absolutely unknown even in the land of the free and
the home of the brave.

The city boasts two Yamens, the military and the
civil. In the latter I called on the Sub-prefect, a very
courteous and comfortable-looking Celestial who is
fast becoming civilized and modernized. I had con-
stant proof of this, because he invited me to drink
champagne or some other infernal civilized concoction.
Mr. Leaf, the Sub-prefect, had a very luminous smile
that would not come off; I believe if the rest of him

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PIGS AND STONES 271

melted away, the luminous smile, like that of the
Cheshire cat, would still be there. After considerable
conversation which was highly enjoyable, and during
which nothing was said, I passed out into the moon-
light to the dining hall of Commissioner Montgomery,
where a ten-course dinner was artistically spread.
Here I found a present from S. P. Leaf consisting of
two ducks, two chickens, seventy eggs, and a hundred
sponge cakes. The luminous smile was deeper than
the skin.

Near the city is the beautiful waterfall, " Tumbling
Water," Tishui Ho. Many years ago a bachelor
named Lo Yin thought that the waterfall was not a
good thing to have and that it should be levelled up so
as to have an even flow.

Now, Lo Yin was a bit of a sorcerer, so he deter-
mined to go there by night and fill it up. He took
magic earth in his big bachelor sleeves, and sprinkled
it on the water, and by the silver light of the moon
he chanted some quaint and curious incantations, and
delivered into space such speeches as would perfectly
fit the mouth of the necromancer, magician, or sooth-
sayer. He was no geomancer, however, for he did
not write characters on the ground. On the hill op-
posite there were a great number of stones, and he
began turning them into pigs, and the whole flock
came toward him; when they reached the river
he would turn them into stones and so fill the stream
up. The Kuan Yin Buddha got wind of this, and
knowing that the stoppage of the waterfall meant dis-
aster in the plain, she changed herself into a beautiful
girl and gracefully approached the bachelor Lo Yin.
He asked her, " Have you seen any pigs on the way ? "
" No," she said, " they are all stones." This, in some
way, broke the spell. So he turned around in anger.

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2y2 BLUE FRIEND THREE

and finding no pigs determined to take revenge on
the girl, but she had vanished and he found nothing
but thin air. The water still falls.

It is a singular fact that there are no missionaries
in Tengyueh, a fact which makes it a difficult place
for unripe travellers. It would, however, prove a
good centre, for medical missionaries especially. Per-
plexing problems would, no doubt, present themselves
for solution, but the opportunities for prosperous work
here are encouraging. The natives of Yunnan are
notorious for laziness, a characteristic which the
missionary would have to expect. There is an evident
movement of the overplus of population in Szechuen
towards these sparsely settled districts of Yunnan.
This puts more life into things. Five strategic points
are now occupied by missionaries in North Yunnan.
The occupation of Tengyueh would open a still wider
field for extended missionary operations.

Blue Friend Three is the right-hand man of the
Nantien Sawbwa, a term for the chiefs of the Shans
who rule for the British and the Chinese. Sawbwa
is a Burmese word, meaning the Shan, and signifies
" hereditary prince." Blue Friend Three had passed
the bachelor's degrees and was thirty-eight years of
age, being bom in the seventh sun of the tenth moon
of the year of the Cow. He was cheery and clean
shaved, and displayed a fairly accurate knowledge
of the history of Western nations. The Nantien
Sawbwa rules over a territory two hundred li by one
hundred and twenty. There are seven Sawbwas
around Tengyueh, and the Nantien has the right of
veto over the others. " Eight years ago there was a
member of your honourable country who came through
here on a bike, and I entertained him," said Blue
Friend Three. (This was probably Frank Lenz, who

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SOME ANCIENT HISTORY 273

was afterwards shot by brigands in Persia.) " He rode
into the Yamen on his bicycle and wanted to teach
me to ride, but the attempt was unsuccessful/' Blue
Friend Three lighted a cigarette and went on showing
up his knowledge, of which he was proud. He read
last year how a madman shot the President of the
United States of America, holding him with one hand
while he shot him with the other. He then asked
whether the North and South did not have a fight over
some black slaves about sixty years ago. Strangely
enough, he also asked if America did not have a cen-
tennial celebration of some kind in the second year
of the Chinese Emperor Kwang Hsu to celebrate the
anniversary of Washington becoming President. The
light is beginning to shine in Yunnan. Nam et ipsa
scientia potestas est.

Blue Friend Three gave me a brief history of the city
of Tengyueh. " Before the Chinese came there the
country belonged to people principally Shans, who
were ruled by Prince Ssu. They had been there for
hundreds of years, and were not a belligerent race.
But when the Chinese came, they taught them to
fight, and the Principality was turned into seven
Sawbwas. This place was made a city and the wall
built in the Ming D)masty. There is none of the God-
dess of Mercy business about here ! " So spake with
pride the Prime Minister of the Shans. " Six hundred
years before the Ming Dynasty there were wild men
living where ' Tengyueh now stands, and they were
beaten in war by the Shans, When the latter were
there, they lived in straw huts and filled the soil.
They burned timber and scattered the ashes over the
ground up the mountain side to fertilize their rice
fields. The Mohammedans came to Yunnan Fu, Tali-
fu, and Tengyueh to trade, and afterwards rebelled.

S

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274 A TALE OF DRAGONS

There is nothing legendary about the business, they
simply rose up and cut off the people's heads." This
effort of Blue Friend required two cigarettes and
seemed to warm him up. The Honourable S. C.
Napier, son of the great general, interpreted for me.
When I asked the Prime Minister of the Shans to tell
me something in the way of a local legend, he hesitated,
but at last said such things were only believed by the
stupid people. I replied that, as these are in the
majority, what they consider true is interesting to the
visitor and student.

Tengyueh is surrounded by lofty and delightful
mountains. One morning, after a night of rain, I
came out of the Consulate and a hill not above fifteen
li away was covered with snow. When the sun was
well up, I went to find a suitable place to photograph
it, and almost all the snow had melted. But there
are heights of many thousand feet above the plain
covered with perpetual snow. I give a moimtain
legend related by the Sawbwa's right-hand man, and
translated by Mr. Napier, who slyly remarked, " The
following story is perfectly true; not as to fact, but
as to legendary explanations of a tremendous natural
disturbance; and it is useful as showing the present
willingness of the native mind to accept and credit
ludicrous stories and make no further inquiries."

The tale is of two dragons, who played ping-pong on
the Teng}'ueh mountains.

"Many a tale
Tradition round the mountains hung
And many a legend, peopling the dark woods,
Nourishing imagination in her growth."

Fifty years ago a flood swept down the Teng)rueh
valley, which is explained to the entire satisfaction
of the people in this way : In the west, many H from

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THE LOST PEARL 275

the city, is a mountain where two dragons lived. As
usual with dragons, they played ball with a luminous
pearl. Near Tangyueh, lived two brothers who kept
a medicine shop. On the Dragon Mountain they col-
lected hwang lien, a bitter herb or root, to make
a cooling medicine. The elder brother stayed at home,
while the younger went up the mountain to gather
hwang lien. Now, the two dragons were playing
with the pearl, and one of them, a little bit careless,
dropped the pearl, which rolled down the mountain
and caught in a small ravine' where the brother was
gathering the precious hwang lien. He picked it up
and took it home. Its brilliancy so filled the whole
house that he could not hide the treasure. So he dug
a hole in the ground outside, two feet deep, and buried
it, thinking that none of the village folk would know
about it. Meanwhile, the elder brother who had been
out to tiffin, returned and found to his astonishment
the whole house full of light, though no lamps had been
lighted, and outside the darkness was dense. Tracing
the hiding place by the rays of light, he dug in the
ground and found the magnificent mapc pearl.
" Hello," said he, " A dragon pearl, and I was never
told anything about it." Much incensed at his brother's
secretiveness, he took the pearl and wrapping it up in
several folds of cloth, he stowed it away in the cup-
board. When the younger brother came back and went
to bed, the older brother got a log of firewood and
banged the poor fellow to death while he was asleep,
and buried him in the garden.

Meanwhile the two dragons came down the moun-
tain to look for the precious pearl, but could not find it.
One of them had the special faculty of seeing things
in the distance. He said, *' I see what has happened ;
not only has someone pidced up the pearl and carried

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276 POINTING A MORAL

it away, but it has led to a crime. Is not this the
light from the pearl which we see streaming from that
house ? "

Next morning two venerable gentlemen walked up
the street to the medicine shop. These were the two
dragons turned into old men. They came to the house
and said, ** We have lost a pearl which was, to us,
exceedingly valuable; if you give it to us we will
reward you with all the gold and silver you like."
As the wicked brother denied having it in his posses-
sion, they then offered him anything he wished, if he
would only give up the pearl. He still refused, so
they said, " You are a guilty man ; not only have you
the pearl, but you killed your brother." He chased
them rudely off, and they walked out of the village.
When they reached the Shweli River, they changed
themselves into water buffaloes and slid into the river
in the usual buffalo way. Next day, rain began to
fall, and kept on falling and the water became higher
and higher, not only because of the rain, but on account
of a disturbance in the river. Soon the whole valley
was swamped, and the medicine man, with his pearl,
ran up the hill for refuge. The water followed him
up the hill, and he climbed into a high tree, but the
water followed him up the tree and drowned him I
But not till he had dropped the pearl. The water car-
ried it into the lake where the buffaloes were, and
they immediately changed back into dragons and
returned home with their wonderful pearl. Then
the water subsided. Chinese stories nearly always
point a moral.

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When one puts his knowledge to the test he deprecates his own
deficiency. Inexperience is ignorant of real difficulties.— Com-
mon Proverb.

CHAPTER XXL

SHAN VILLAGES — NANTIEN — ^SHANS AND BUR-
MESE — A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE — ^SHAVING
IN PUBLIC — MURDER OF MR. MARGARY — ^A
CENTRE OF GAMBLING — BURYING A SPIRIT —
LEAVES FROM A DIARY.

[0 traveller, making this great
journey from Shanghai up the
Yangtze to Chungking and
overland to Bhamo, will ever
forget the ride through the
Shan States if he stops in the
same buildings over night as I
did. The varieties of abodes
Spinning Thread. ^^^ ^^^ memory. As I was

leaving Tengyueh in the doubtful light of the morn-
ing, the South Gate was opened by special orders.
Turning to the west, the road lay over rolling clay hills
covered with coarse, dry grass. Numerous Shan
villages were to be seen from the road, and on rising
ground in the valley a new temple was being built.
One of my coolies carried the two live ducks sent as a
present by the Sub-Prefect of Tengyueh, and, in order
to make them more comfortable, he wove a straw
stirrup to go lengthways on the breast of each bird.

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278 SHAN VILLAGES

He must have been a kind-hearted coolie, for he car-
ried them horizontally instead of perpendicularly by
the legs, although it is less cruel to carry ducks by the
legs than chickens, because ducks often stand on their
heads when rooting for grub in the water, and are
somewhat accustomed to the inverted position.

The Shan villages on the plain, each surrounded by
a low mud wall and bamboo grove, gave variety to
the general monotony. About sixty li from Tengyueh,
near a village, I crossed two streams of very warm
water, and I saw steam issuing out of a rock. Fire
is very near the surface of the earth here. My men
got frightened, for sickness is said to attack those
who dare cross these thermal plains. They were told
that within the last few weeks out of a caravan of
sixteen people, four had died of malarial fever. So
far as I could judge, at this season of the year the re-
gion is perfectly healthful. Near the Dragon Escort
Barrier I photographed the remains of a stone bridge
across a part of the plain which is under water in the
summer. The way is constructed of long flat stones,
with similar stones on end for piers and balustrades.
A part of the bridge had been carried away by the
floods. The Chinese proverb that the highways are
"good for ten years and bad for ten thousand," is
true. My men had to wade across the stream which
at this time of the year is not over thirty feet wide* In
summer it is hundreds of feet across.

As soon as we had passed through Tso Yin, an in-
trenched city which is generally considered the Chinese
part of Nantien, we went five H further on to the
Shan Sawbwa's Yamen in the midst of the capital
of the Shans, Nantien. The entrance to the Yamen
is off the main street, beside a pool of stagnant water
and a hitching post for donkeys and buffaloes. The

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THE CHINAMAN'S SMILE 279

Yamen contains a remarkable assortment of war
implements, useful only for decorative purposes, on
each side of the first doors. The Chinese call the
Shans "White Barbarians" (Peh I). They are a
mixed people. Their proper name is Tai, and they
show great appreciation of the person who employs
that term when speaking of them. The Shans have
been divided between the Chinese and British, the
former being in seven clans or principalities, of which
the Sawbwa Tao is the head chief. Outside the West
Gate is a Shan temple unlike any I saw in China.
Containing but one idol, it resembles the sacred houses
of the Burmese, but it differs in this that the Burmese
temples have their one god Gaudama, represented in
many different postures. The other objects of interest
in the Nantien temple are votive offerings, artificial
flowers, lamps and streamers, exactly as in the temples
of Burma. Opposite the temple is a Burmese pagoda,
a pattern of the celebrated one at Rangoon, but it
contains no idol. The original worship of the Shans
was identical with that of the Burmese — pure Budd-
hism — and not mixed with hero-worship as in China,
In the next enclosure is a Chinese temple containing
numerous images. A Shan told me that in order not
to arouse the animosity of their conquerors, the Chi-
nese, they worship in the temple of the victors as well
as in their own! In the early dusk of the evening
there came from the private court of the Yamen more
real hearty children's laughter than I ever heard in
China, Maybe the Shans are a jolly people. The voice
of mirth I have not often heard in China, but the
Chinaman's smile is close to the surface, and is what
Dickens describes as " one vast substantial smile."

The next morning I breakfasted on four cold eggs,
wet rice, and hot water, and left the Sawbwa's Yamen

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28o MEN AND MANNERS

early. It is the best place in the village for a traveller
to stop at. The inns are small and the live stock active.
This was proved by the number of my coolies I saw
with their upper garments open on the hunt for small
game. At early rice, served in a hamlet of four bam-
boo huts, we ate one of the ducks brought from Teng-
yueh. A member of our party, remembering how it
had been carried, remarked, " I guess it is glad it is
dead." My secretary discussed the tail of a rooster
and suggested that it did not have the proper concen-
tric and eccentric curves. This disquisition on an or-
dinary barnyard fowl, without any reference or local
application to this great journey, constrained me to say,
" Well, what are you going to do about it ? " The
rice was served very white and nice ; indeed, the Shans
know how to select and raise the best crops. Fragrant
honeysuckles, singing birds, and pleasing landscapes
delighted the senses. When my mind was full of
" sich like," a fellow carrying two new wooden cup-
boards left the inn refusing to pay his score, but
promising to settle on his return journey. The
bound-footed landlady called him back in vain, and
oflf he went. She was afraid to be too vehement lest
the man's relatives should boycott her shop. Five
hours out of the Sawbwa's Yamen we entered the
valley of the Taying. This river flows through a
narrow channel at the north side of its summer bed,
but was then as dry as the Sahara. The loose sand
reached from base to base of the mountains on either
side, and reminded me of the great desert near the
Pyramids of Gizeh. A red-coated soldier carrying
the rifle had his right trouser leg pulled up to the hilt
most of the time, trying to locate a flee. Such a per-
formance is not considered out of form in this part
of the world. People have not been squeezed by the

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REPULSIVE WOMEN 281

straight jacket of excessive propriety. They chew
betel. The uncivilized and even savage custom of
chewing this nut is not as vulgar and nasty as the
free use of tobacco by highly-civilized moderns. These
Shan heroes are nice, spry, intelligent-looking fellows.
Their women wear monster turbans made of black
cloth, and bright colours about their ankles, with teeth
ash black, as is their headgear. We have seen many
gfroups of these females.

Soon after noon we arrived at Kiucheng, the Chi-
nese name meaning " Old City." The Shan name is
Kang Ai. This proved to be a hot spot, and we were
dust-covered and hungry. Celebrated visitors usually
stop in an old Yamen. Needless to say we stopped
there! A thousand families have homes there. The
main street contains a double row of booths and most
of the business seems to be done under them. Many
Kachins — ^wild men of the mountains — who had car-
ried wood from the highlands, were selling it and
making little purchases. I passed a small but pretty
mountain girl who had come a long way with a basket
of wood on her back, but all day had failed to sell it,
and at night was starting to trudge back to the moun-
tains with the burdens. Some of the women were re-
pulsive-looking, with great mops of uncombed hair,
and faces washed in butter, or a similar article, lazily
lolling about looking at foreign articles for sale.

A performance in the theatrical department of the
god of Riches was in full blast The stage was ar-
ranged so that the idol could see what was going on.
These theatricals are said to be provided for the amuse-
ment of the idols, and are free to the public. A wealthy
man will, at times, engage a troup of actors as a proof
of his devotion to some deity, and communities some-
times employ them. The play frequently continues

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for ten or twenty days almost uninterruptedly. After
seeing a " play " for an hour, one could hardly think
of anything. When I went in, the crowd, sitting and
standing in the courtyard, turned their attention from
two men dressed as women, who were talking in a high
falsetto voice, to look at the strange foreigner.

The old Yamen grounds of Kang Ai, where I was
staying, occupy a half-acre and are enclosed by a mud
wall three feet thick, eight feet high, and roofed with
tiles of a blue colour and local make. At the comers
are towers, loop-holed and turreted. My room had
no doors, but it possessed a carved altar-piece with a
marble back. The Shans are as full of curiosity as
the Chinese, if this place could be taken as a sample.
I wanted to get shaved, and ordered a basin of hot
water. It came, and was put on a high-backed, cane-
seated chair. On the table an oblong mirror reflected
the " distinguished face." Fifteen or twenty people
(they were the bolder of a great crowd) ventured into
the Yamen and sat or stood eying curiously my every
movement, and the minutiae of a shaving operation —
first the razor and the sharpening process; then the
lathering, at which stage they concluded I was being
painted (what a queer fashion! They use only water
when shaving). This performance they discussed
sotto voce.

** Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around :
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew."

Then the removing of the "paint" with the odd-
shaped blade caused excitement and suppressed emo-
tion. The bathing of face and hands with carbolic
soap and the wiping with a dry towel uncorked the
emotion, but when I combed my hair surprise corked
it down again. The proceedings reminded me of a cat
watching a desirable mouse. The typewriter was a

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MURDER OF AN ENGLISHMAN 283

perfect marvel. Likely they had never seen one in
operation before. Had they not reason to wonder?
We would do the same, aye, we did do the same only
a few years ago when the machine first came in. Curi-
osity once even killed a cat It is common to all natives
and individuals.

On the road between Kang Ai and Manyne I noticed
many small gardens surrounded by cactus fences.
The road is of hard clay, flat and in good repair.
Shans skilfully ferried us over the Taying River in
a burned-out dugout of three compartments, with a
bamboo at each side to help float the rotten thing.
In the prow of the boat stood a punter who tried to
push his big toe into a hole to stop the water from
coming in and sinking us; and but for the efforts of
one of my chair coolies to bale out, we must needs
have got a soaking or our accident insurance. Two
hundred cash (ten gold cents) was the exorbitant
charge for twenty-eight men, chairs and baggage, for
being ferried over. A Chinaman would have paid one-
fourth that amount. When our luggage was safe in
a room at the Customs at Manwyne I walked two li
west to the spot where Margary was murdered. Here
is a stream and seven banyan trees, one a monster, the
shadow of whose foliage measured fifty-four Geil steps
across. Now I am over six feet tall and not extra long
in the body!

Under these trees the unfortunate Englishman was
murdered. It is said that he was invited to the place
to look at some water, and then killed by "Train
bands," but it is generally believed by those having
a good knowledge of affairs, that he was assassinated
by order of the Chinese Government. He had just
gone through to Burma safely, and had described the
kind and courteous treatment of the people of that

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284 A CENTRE OF GAMBLING

section. He returned with another expedition and
perished here. No board or stone marks the spot
where he was murdered, but a fine pillar has been
erected to his memory in Shanghai near the Garden
Bridge on the Bund. Still,

" Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death? "

I saw many Kachins very gaudily dressed, chewing
betel-nut. These wild people of the mountains fetch on
their backs heavy loads of firewood, and take back
whiskey, or native Chinese spirit, and opium. Oh, this
curse of the Kachins. The women have large holes in
the lobes of their ears, but not as big as the Papuans
on the south shore of New Guinea make in theirs. For
earrings they use lattice-work cylinders of silver, an
inch in diameter and six inches in length. A brilliant
tassel hangs at the end. They wear anklets of rattan
above the calf of the leg I These have as many as a hun-
dred rings, and a similar affair goes round the waist.

The Customs was represented by a short-legged,
robust, long-haired, sleepless, open-jawed ugly dog.
I do not know the condition of his breath; it may
have been sweet, but his tones were not sweet. He
was roped to a movable object and tried to get loose
and bite the visitor. Were he to bite his owners it
would be a good job. Here I experienced the only
thing approaching incivility on the part of the Chinese
all through this long journey. The meanest natives
in China, so far as I know, are now in that Customs
House. I pity the people who get into their clutches.
Manwyne is a gambling centre. The Customs people
gambled all night. I left the next day at four-thirty
A.M., and they were still at it. There is a telegraph
ofHce in Manwyne. Some time ago an operator took
a day oflf to go and hunt for the tiger. He forgot to fit

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SUPERNUMERARY SOLDIERS 285

the plug connecting Bhamo with Tengyueh. Conse-
quence — line of no value for over a hundred miles,
and men were despatched to repair it. It is unfortu-
nate that the tiger did not hunt the operator.

Directly after leaving Manwyne our road lay near
the military camp which, judging by the barks, was
full of dogs. They are better sentinels than men,
with their tails on their heads. Probably the soldiers
were playing games of chance, as the Chinese are a
great gambling people. The first part of the morning
we passed through rolling clay hills and motmtains.
The forests teemed with insect life. In less tropical
regions the woods are still; here a constant hum
vibrates in the air.

Over the entire route from Manwjme to the Burman
border, about fifteen li apart, . are stockades called
military camps. One called Shinti is the last one in
use this side of the border. We arrived there on a
Saturday at two p.m., and arranged to remain over
Sunday. On the inside of the stockade stand two
buildings of bamboo, facing each other, and across the
end a third containing the honourable guest chamber.
Around these three buildings is the stockade proper,
composed of small tree trunks four inches in diameter
and twelve feet long. Parallel to the stockade, and
about fifteen feet off, surrounding the whole, is a fence
of diagonal design made of sharp-pointed bamboo
with strips fastened in the middle and sharpened at
the end, making an admirable obstruction to any bare-
legged and bare-armed enemy who might attack. The
gate IS hung at the top and swings outwards. This
stockade was built thirteen years ago. An official
named Ma, who has control of the Kachin people, has
his head-quarters here. He reports three hundred sol-
diers under him, and several small stockades among

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286 AN EMBLEM OF AUTHORITY

the hSUs are guarded by his men from this place.
Lieutenant Ma, the brother of the Commander, tried
to evade my question as to how many men were
actually in the stockade. In China it is customary for
the G«ieral to hypothecate the number of soldiers and
draw pay for twice as many as are on hand. On
review day, when the Viceroy comes, there are plenty
of coolies loafing about who can be hired by the day
rigged up as soldiers and dismissed when the Viceroy
leaves. The funny thing about it all is that the Viceroy
knows the " dodge " and plays it on the Emperor. In
fact, everybody plays it. It is not entirely imknown
in America! Other systems of stealing are in vogue
everywhere in the world.

" So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey ;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em ;
And so proceed ad infinitum/'

By the bed in my room there was a fence-like box
containing a fish-shaped oilcloth contrivance with the
Imperial Dragon painted on it. This was the emblem
of authority. The stockade is twenty-five li from the
British boundary. Outside, at the lower end, an opium
den drives a brisk trade, and further down, not half a
li, is the Kachin village of Lower Bhiti with ten
houses. The Chief, Kin Ta Mong, called with ten of
his henchmen to salute me, and brought a present of
fourteen hens' eggs. A rupee deposited in his hand as
a gift greatly pleased him. I asked a gentleman what
impressed him most between Tengyueh and Nam-
poung. His ready reply was " The Kachin villages
and the great houses ; no such houses anywhere else in
China." One of these long, bamboo, grass-roofed
houses was over seventy-five feet long, and suggested
dwellings of the Lower Fly River natives in New Guinea*

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BURYING A SPIRIT 287

The tribe here is not aflfected with goitre, as many
others are, for during the day I passed through villages
where it was painfully plentiful.

I visited Lower Shiti. The nephew of the big chief
died six moons ago- He went out at noon to look at
the bamboo along the road and on the way met a de-
mon which gave him a fatal disease. Twelve days
later he died and was buried four li below the house in
a coffin made of the trunk of a tree hollowed out,
the body being encased and a board fastened on the
end. Then came a season of mourning and wailing
and great lamentations. Although he died so long
ago, that day they were bur)nng his spirit The
ceremony of escorting the spirit to the grave oc-
cupies three days, and consists of sword-drills,
dances and slashing right and left with large
knives. Guns are fired to close the way for any evil
spirit that might be about. There were no signs of
grief or distress, but the proceeding was characterized
by a strong determination to convey the spirit safely
to its destination. The big chief wore a blue cloth
suit with Victoria buttons. His face was strong,
with prominent cheek bones, and on his head was a
blue turban. His teeth were black with betel-nut.
Over his right shoulder and under his left arm was a
circle of wood supporting a sword-knife in a wooden
sheath. He was further adorned with the jawbone
of a tiger,

I append a leaf from my diary. Monday, March six-
teenth, Shiti to Nampoung. I was up at three this
morning, but finally turned out at three-thirty. Full
moon and a few fleecy clouds about. This is my last
day in China. It is about twenty-five li to the botmdary
line between China and Burma, and some five li
further to the official rest-house built by the Indian

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288 A KACHIN VILLAGE

Government. The technical name for the rest-house
is Dak Bungalow. We had a tasteless breakfast of
vegetables and rice mixed with sand. This is con-
sidered good for sharpening the teeth. We departed
at five-fifty a.m. from the last real military camp in
China, going out at the East Gate, Lieutenant Ma
having accompanied us that far. He bade us farewell
and added four Martini-Henry riflemen to our guard
that we might safely pass from the protection of the
Dragon to that of the Lion. Altogether we have
eight soldiers, heroic-looking fellows, at rice. Leaving
the flock of goats, four gtese, the two ponies, one mule,
two dogs, many chickens, one tender and juicy,
pigeons, and divers other inhabitants of the stockade
visible and invisible, some having night eyes and some
having bills and gimlets (they could be profitably em-
ployed by the Standard Oil Company), we wound
round the stockade with our backs to the glow of the
east and our faces to the western sky. Passed an opium
den and divers donkeys and entered a Kachin village.
The Kachins were up late last night conducting a spirit
to a grave, and this morning are laid up for repairs,
which they are making with the assistance of rice
whiskey. The kind old chief came out to bid us fare-
well and to see us politely out of his peaceful mountain
hamlet.

Six-fifteen a.m. Procession halted, photographed
the grave of the chief's nephew. It has split bamboo
in the house over it and imitation buffalo horns stuck
on a post. It is in a lofty situation, surrounded by
foliage, with the wind wafting the odour of mountain
flowers about, a fit place for the repose of the warrior.
We took the picture and silently passed on.

Six-thirty a.m. Passing through another Kachin
village. Bronze-coloured girl with a great basket on

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BRITISH SOIL 289

her back full of bamboo lengths used as water buckets.
These Kachins, termed by the Celestials " The wild
men of the hills," appear to be thrifty and peace loving.
They were different in former years.

Six-forty-five a.m. Small stockade. The Chinese
are confirmed liars. They lie " from way back " and
away forward. They lie in all tenses and at all times
of the day and night. They lie at all ages, but they
lie gracefully, politely, tenderly, smilingly, carefully,
and maybe religiously and prayerfully, and they
certainly do it financially, socially and funereally.
For a few taels of silver a Chinaman will declare
himself to be the other fellow, if the other fellow's
head is to be cut off! No matter! Headless liar!
This may seem strange, but he has ways of using
money even though he must give up his life. Ready
money will not only give him help in this world, but
also in the next. From coolie to Emperor, money
does the business. The Kachins fasten curiously
designed charms to trees whose " spirits " they
worship. The three g^reat gipsy clans of Germany
worship the trees themselves.

Our road lay along a spur, and we gradually de-
scended to the river Hongmu Ho, the boundary be-
tween China and Burma. A unique spot is this. On
the one side a few bamboo huts ; on the other, buildings
roofed with corrugated iron and sixteen Sikh soldiers
doing police duty. I crossed the river into Burma on
the back of a coolie, and so " landed on British soil."
After a short walk on the bank of the river I went up
to the British military camp. There I found a telegraph
operator and a physician who spoke English. Every-
thing was neat, and suggestive of wise British rule.
Two hundred feet down the opposite side was a large
comfortable rest-house which was to be our quarters.

T

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290 R]eSUMfi

Although one thousand five hundred feet up, this camp
(seventy-five men) is troubled with malarial fever.
The region abounds in game, and the sportsman not
infrequently bags a tiger or leopard.

In each Government rest-house is a book for travel-
lers to sign, and a framed notice gives all particulars
for accommodation. When not occupied by officials,
foreign travellers may use these places at the very
reasonable rate of one rupee a day for each visitor. I
found these houses clean and comfortably furnished.
The grounds are well kept, and there are bath-rooms,
and servants' quarters detached, cook-houses, and
stabling — all this in marked contrast with the Chinese
rest-houses. Even the comforts and conveniences for
the outer man which Christianity brings ought to be
enough proof of its divine origin.

To recapitulate. On leaving the city of Tengyueh, I
passed out of the British Consulate, where I had spent
the night. Ninety li further, at Nantien, the Shan
Sawbwa Tao (Knife) placed his comfortable Yamen
at my disposal. The next day we again did ninety li,
and reaching the Shan village of Kang Ai, the proces-
sion, after a tortuous course, wound into the ample
courtyard of the old official residence. We went one
hundred and twenty li the next day to Manwyne, and
found quarters within the capacious grounds of the
Chinese Imperial Customs. The next night, after mak-
ing one hundred and ten li, I entered the Chinese
stockade of Shiti (pronounced She Tea). Finally,
thirty H further on we came into pleasant accommoda-
tion, the British Rest-House, near the Sepoy military
barracks of Nampoimg. We had crossed the boundary
and probably for ever left the Chinese Empire.

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tA A ^h M. :f A iz

A great man will not see a little man's fatilts.

CHAPTER XXII.

MYOTHIT — A RECKLESS COOK — BHAMO, THE

CITY OF POTS — MISSIONS IN BHAMO — BURMESE

NATS — ^THE SHANS — BOUND FOR MANDALAY.

Sculling.

T Nampoung the coolies had no
pukais, therefore they were up
^1 and had their early rice before
our black pot with rice gruel
made its appearance at four-
thirty A.M. The moon was
shining clearly in a bright sky.
I had left Nampoung Rest-
House by daylight and moon-
light mixed. The baggage
went out through the " back door," which is a rear exit
through the split bamboo fence. The chairs left at the
other end by a short, steep, zig-zag path up to a splen-
did road. The rank vegetation of the mountain was
being cleared from the road two hundred feet on either
side. This is done at Government expense. Fre-
quently I saw evidences of the fantastic worship of
the Shans — ^notched posts and long poles bearing split
bamboo designs being the most common. Near a
Kachin village we met whole families with live pigs
in baskets. They were carrying them to Bhamo, two

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292 HIGH FOOD

hundred li away, to do a little trading. Pony-loads of
Nga-pi, or rotten fish, otherwise referred to as " speci-
ally preserved," passed us going east.

Civilized and uncivilized countries carry about the
same proportion of fools to the population. The Ger-
mans take Limberger cheese, the Chinese rotten eggs,
the Fijian rotten bananas, and the Englishman " high "
game. There must be something " rotten " in the
state of Denmark.

We frequently passed little groups of Kachins or
Shans eating by the roadside. They were making
their way back from Bhamo. An officer in the British
army tells me that the Kachins are the very best peo-
ple to travel with in the jungle. The Arab proverb
about the man who finds good in ever3rthing applies
to them : " Throw him into the river and he will rise
with a fish in his mouth." On a short but steep descent
my caravan met an elephant going in the opposite di-
rection. It belonged to the Public Works Department.
One of my men shouted, in affright, " That is two
hundred and fifty," which is a Chinese expression sig-
nifying dislike. My coolies who had been disputing
the right of way with donkeys and ponies promptly
turned aside for Jumbo and the elephant had it all to
himself. The last coolie, the mischievous one of the
lot, was afraid lest the elephant would put its trunk
round his neck. We soon got into the woods, where
the vegetation is luxuriant. Out through the mass
of foliage came the sound of a sweet-toned Burmese
bell. I could see no village or pagoda or human being.
It seemed to be born and die away in the silence and
solitude of the forest.

After crossing a branch of the Ta3ring river five
times, at ten-thirty a.m. I arrived at the Official Dak
Bimgalow on the edge of the village Myothit. It

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RETURN OF THE BODYGUARD 293

contains two bedrooms about sixteen feet square, and
a dining room as large as the two together. There
are also two bath rooms. It is constructed of teak
with bamboo walls and roof, and stands upon twenty-
four large posts, fourteen feet above the ground.
Light is admitted through bamboo sides, which swing
out so that everything is open during the day. The
rooms contain looking-glasses and curtains, and bed-
steads with canvas webbing instead of steel laths or
wire mattress. The building stands at the edge of
the village, and about a li from the river, in a com-
pound surrounded by a bamboo fence. The distance
from Nampoung to Myothit is about fifty li, and from
Nampoung to Bhamo is an easy road of about thirty-
five miles. In Myothit Dak Btmgalow I remained two
days, resting and writing. So poor was Mohammed
that when dying his wife had to borrow oil for the
lamp. We could borrow no oil, but purchased some
from a friendly Celestial. Soon the light went out,
and a careful examination showed that the oil had
gone solid!

My men had behaved admirably. They had served
me well and I paid them off, distributing some money
presents besides. Three days afterwards I saw some
of them starting off empty-handed on their long walk
back to Tengyueh.

On leaving Myothit Bimgalow, I passed through
the village, and then over a wooden bridge which has
to be replaced each year after the floods, crossed the
Ta Ying, and then over a plain as flat as a plank,
through elephant grass fourteen feet high. In a small
thatched-roofed booth was a large jar containing
drinking water. The Burmese like to do " meritorious
works," and keep the jar filled for the benefit of
travellers. My coolies ate a double handful of cold

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294 A NARROW ESCAPE

boiled rice which they had brought with them in a
dirty rag — Shaving probably stolen it from the inn,
where they stopped the night before. Soon after I
suddenly heard the report of the rifle, and saw a large
flock of black birds leave the branches of a tall tree.
Thinking the secretary had been taking a shot, I paid
no more attention to the matter, imtil coming up
near our scheming cook I saw him hand the rifle to
one of the coolies. On closer inspection I saw that
the trigger was pulled clear back, and that the man
was carrying the gun in such a way that it was in
danger of going off at any moment and killing some
of us. I jumped out of my chair, took it carefully
from his shoulder, and found that the cook, one of the
greatest rascals I have met in China, had fired the
shot and reset the gun. I at once removed the cart-
ridge, put the trigger down, and handed the gun to
the secretary. Thus at the very end of a successful
journey across the great Empire of China, one of us
had a narrow escape from being ignominiously shot!
In travelling in China or in any other part of the world,
I have learned to take nothing for granted, but to be
as watchful and alert at the last hour of the journey
as at the first.

" For some must watch, while some must sleep,
So runs the world away."

The villages were clean and well-appointed. Outside
Bhamo Mr. Selkirk met me, and we took a short cut
by the barracks of the military police and the military
police hospital. The finest residences in Bhamo are
occupied by the civil and military officials, some
of the houses costing as much as fifteen thousand
rupees. I was to be entertained in the American
compound at the east end of the city. On approach-
ing my destination, I crossed a bridge over an arm of a

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THE CITY OF POTS 295

moderately sized artificial lake. The region here had
been swampy and malarial until the water was dammed
and made into a lake fifteen feet deep. I was very
cordially welcomed by the American missionaries.

At last on the afternoon of Friday, March twentieth,
we arrived at Bhamo. I traversed the entire distance
from Shanghai in ninety-nine days. Without doubt
the journey across China is not the cheapest in the
world.

Bhamo is a Siamese word, and means " The City of
Pots." It is one of the oldest towns north of Manda-
lay, and has a history one hundred and twenty-five
years old. The original city was three miles to the
north, where the Taying runs into the Irrawaddy. It
was formerly a walled town and was ruled by the
Shans. Bhamo has always been contended for by the
Chinese and Burmese, the former having taken it four
times. The desire to hold it grew out of its location, it
being the head of navigation. It is twenty miles from
the Chinese border. The population is about twelve
thousand all told, within a radius of one and a half
miles of the city. The place is garrisoned by a Sepoy
Regiment one thousand strong, a mountain battery of
eight hundred, and four companies of Britishers. The
men in the mountain battery are Sikhs, Katans and
Panjabis — ^none arc admitted under six feet high. An
under-sized man would probably not be physically able
to serve. Two of these men can lift up a cannon and
put It on the back of one of the big mules. The mili-
tary police number five hundred Kachins and some
four hundred Indians. There are two forts, A and C,
A for the military police and C for the military. Fort
B has been abandoned. The Chinese are the largest
traders and they occupy a quarter in the centre of
the city by themselves. They deal wholesale, their

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296 MISSIONS IN BHAMO

chief imports being cotton, piece goods, and salt.
Their exports are honey, cast-iron cooking pans, hides,
ochre, chestnuts and walnuts. There is a daily
steamer which connects the place with the train to
Katha. It takes forty-eight hours to go from Bhamo
to Rangoon.

Christianity is represented in this city by several
missions. The American Baptist has a mission to the
Kachins and the Shans, the China Inland to the Chi-
nese. The Mohammedans have a mosque and about
one thousand adherents. Of course, there are many
pagodas, and Buddhism seems to be flourishing. The
American missions are well housed and are doing the
largest work. In the last report of the Baptists, two
hundred Kachins are tabulated as baptized members,
and in the eight Christian villages there are four hun-
dred converts and their families. No one is counted
a Christian until he has been baptized. An Amer-
ican who has spoken Kachin for probably a quarter
of a century says, " I have never seen more than one
Kachin who could read who had not been taught in
a Baptist school." The Catholics have five male mis-
sionaries in the district and no nuns — ^the result is
that they accomplish very little and have no native
church here. As far as I have been able to learn, the
priests are hard-working, honest, moral men. Their
method of procedure at present is to borrow money
from the Government on their own security, and loan
it to the native farmers. They lived peacefully with
the Protestants until two years ago, when, during the
absence of a missionary, they induced the people of a
Protestant village to become Romanists. The Fathers
spent two hundred rupees of their own money to build
a church, even though there were but few members.
Their scheme finally failed, and. the heathen say of

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BURMESE NATS 297

this village that " while they worshipped Jesus the peo-
ple prospered, but when they worshipped the Virgin
Mary it played out."

There is no Kachin village nearer to Bhamo than
Chyin five miles distant. It is now a Christian vil-
lage. I attended service there on Sunday morning
and the audience was large and intelligent, and the
singing was good. The Kachins ridicule Buddhism.
They say " Burmese take mud and mix it up and put
like on it and fall down and worship it There is no
merit in that." The heathen Kachins however do
practically the same thing, when they wrap a banana
leaf roimd a piece of bamboo, tie it with rattan, and
call it a spirit.

Outside every door there is an altar to nature, and
even a child would freeze before he would take wood
from the altar to bum. The missionaries say that the
chief obstacles to work among the Kachins are whis-
key, opium, and immorality. The women are very
depraved. However, there is no religion to do away
with. Judson said that the Kachins were like a clean
platter, they only needed to be filled up ; but the Bur-
mese were more like a vessel which had earth oil in it ;
you never get rid of the smell of Buddhism. The Kachin
IS most superstitious. He believes in one great spirit,
the creator of all things, who is called Kari Ka Sang.
He created and upholds and sustains all things, and is
benevolent ; but he has withdrawn himself to the spirit
land, and does not care for the Kachins, so they need
not concern themselves about him. They have the
same reverence for the word Kari Ka Sang as the
Jews have for Jehovah — it is never uttered except on
the most solemn occasions. All the other spirits are
malicious, and are feared by the Kachins, especially
those of thunder and lightning. All the sacrifices

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298 OPIUM BURST HELL

are made through fear and gratitude. If the lightning
strike a tree in a field they will not plant the field that
year. They have earth " nats " and heaven " nats."
Nat means spirit, but is never used for a good spirit.
In addition to earth and heaven nats, all the ancestors
become nats and may come back to " get even " with
their descendants. They say that life becomes more
and more difficult as time goes on, because there are
more spirits to be appeased. The expense incurred in
making sacrifice to these nats keeps the Kachins in a
state of chronic poverty.

Their priests tell them that hell is burst, and that it
was burst by the opium smokers. A Qiristian school
boy was preaching on hell and was describing it as an
awful place, using the term Nga Rite, when a hearer
in the most serious way said, " Stop, young man. Our
priest sajrs that hell is burst." The young man in-
quired, " How is that ? " The old man replied, " In
the modem days of opium smoking, so many opium
smokers, Chinese, Kachins, Shans, have gone there
that they have burst it." " How did they burst it ? "
" They dried their plantain leaves on the sides of the
burning chattey, which made it so hot that it burst."
It may be of interest to the Indian Government to
know that opium smoking has burst hell.

The Kachins are utilitarians, and never use the
words " ought " and " duty." They proceed on the
ground of expediency and say instead, " It would be
well " or " ill " — ^that is, advantageous or disadvan-
tageous. Missionary Roberts says they have no sense
of right or wrong per se.

The brilliant and devoted young American surgeon.
Will C. Griggs, in charge of the American Baptist
Missionary Union work for the Shans at Bhamo,is one
of the most energetic and hard-working missionaries

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THE SHANS 299

I have seen in any land. He teaches and preaches
and doctors with a courage and promptness and devo-
tion beyond all praise. He tells me that the Shans
are foimd from Bangkok far out north to Szechuen.
The Siamese are Shans and call themselves Htai. The
Shans call themselves Tai. There are two great fam-
ilies, the Northern and the Southern, that is, the
Chinese and the Siamese, but it is impossible to tell
how many millions there are of them. In Burma they
occupy the plains, while the Kachins live on the moun-
tains. The Shans got their alphabet from Burma in
twelve hundred a.d., but it was modified to suit the
people.

The Shans are Buddhists. This form of religion
was introduced into the country some seven hundred
years ago, and has not yet eradicated the original
devil worship; in fact, the woods are full of devils.
The Shans never live in caves. They are great trad-
ers, and manufacture no intoxicating liquor. No one
has ever seen a drunken Shan unless he has been
associated with foreigners. There are a few diseases
among them — fever and stomach trouble are the most
frequent. They look upon smallpox as Americans look
upon measles. When Dr. Griggs once went to a large
village to vaccinate the children, he found only three
who had never had the disease. In Bhamo there is a
school for Kachins with an attendance of over ninety,
and one for Shans equally prosperous.

After five days in Bhamo I drove two miles to the
Irrawaddy Flotilla Company's wharf and took a deck
passage for Katha. I paid three rupees, seven annas.
My friends, Messrs. W. H. Roberts, J. McCarthy, and
Selkirk, came down to see me off, and as the steamer
cast off into the stream they waved a last farewell.
The run down takes seven hours, and the steamer

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300 THE ROAD TO MANDALAY

passes through the beautiful gorge of the Irrawaddy.
Katha is the terminus of a branch of the Burma rail-
ways. Here I purchased a second-class train ticket
for Mandalay, paying eleven rupees, ten annas. We
left at five-thirty p.m., and arrived at one p.m. the
next afternoon. The run is on a three feet three inch
gauge, and we passed through country dotted with
white pagodas and small neat villages. Soon after
leaving Katha the train ran through miles of bamboo
forest.

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The tree which Heaven plants, though man should throw it down,
he cannot eradicate it. The tree which Heaven casts down, though
man should replant it, it will not grow,— Emperor Kienlung.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE END OF THE JOURNEY — ^BEHEADING A
GOD — RANGOON — ^A CAT HUNT — ^THE MISTAKES
OF MISSIONARIES — ^THE DEVOTION OF MISSION-
ARIES AND THE CLAIMS OF THEIR CAUSE.

rlNAL prq)arations are now the
order of the day. I have given
my oil blanket away, the one I
bought to keep off insects in
Qiinese inns; also the pukai or
bedding. As for the P. T., it
carried safely on the backs of
sundry coolies, but I have never
even had it on and never will.
No foreigner should wear a pigtail. It is distasteful
to multitudes of Chinese who wear it. As for my
Chinese suit of clothes, I put it on at Myothit to have
my picture taken. And now I am writing this last
chapter on a steamer in Malacca Straits.

At Mandalay, the most interesting city in Burma, I
caught a missionary red-handed in the act of behead-
ing a god! It was the Baptist teacher Davenport.

OrindinffMiU.

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302 BEHEADING A GOD

He had purchased some land on which the god, about
thirteen feet high, sat in full possession. A caucus
of natives and foreigners was convened and it was
decided to close the career of the deity, and utilize the
lot for less sedentary purposes. A crow-bar seemed the
most effective way to close the business with despatch.
A coolie brought one, but no Burman was iconoclastic
enough to smash a divinity. So two Indians were
called in to assist in the interesting work. The Yankee
teacher stood ready with the iron crow-bar when one
of the Indians shouted and, running into the chapel,
fetched a Bible. When the American began the work
of execution, the Indian, holding the sacred volume,
between himself and the idol, cried out, "Oh, god!
Oh, god ! " The moment the head was off, how-
ever, everybody was ready to help, for it became
Nehushtan (ii. Kings, i8, 4) after decapitation! A
silver heart was found inside, containing strips of solid
gold inscribed with the sacred characters of Pali; and
also a tooth set in a ring. Whose molar it was
I know not, certainly not Buddha's, for there are
enough teeth of his about now in Asia to supply a
mighty big man with a mighty generous mouth. Any-
way, the tooth is considered a prophylactic against all
sorts of uncanny things.

There is about this city much to interest a student.
At the foot of Mandalay Hill is a group of four hun-
dred pagodas. I did not count them, and as one reliable
party told me there were seven himdred and nineteen,
and another four hundred and fifty, I have gone on an
independent tack, seeing no reason why a man should
not have a mind of his own, and made a moderate
estimate of four hundred. Each contains an upright
alabaster tablet inscribed with some of the Law of
Buddha. It is said that were all Buddhistic books

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HAIRS OF BUDDHA 303

destroyed, the whole law could be , obtained from
these slabs. In addition, there is the large Queen's
Monastery, built to expiate her many sins. The
biggest " bell that rings " is hereabouts, and the
neighbourhood contains many other interesting things
too numerous to mention.

The train rolled into Rangoon station in good time.
On the platform, waiting to give me a cordial greeting,
was Mr. McCowen, secretary of the local Y.M.C.A.
He was a prosperous lawyer, and renounced a fine in-
come to take up his present work. His salary, I am
told, is about what he paid to one of the clerks in
his law office ! The association is working vigourously
on a sane plan. In this city is the great Shwe Dagon
Pagoda, covered with plates of gold. It is said to be
very sacred, as eight hairs of one of the Buddhas are
inside. I concluded from the number of hairs on ex-
hibition that Buddha must now be bald. But the
greatest sights of all are the printing plant, schools,
and chapels of the American Baptist Mission. This
society has about five hundred self-supporting churches
among the Karens.

The Karen Prophet, San Ye, is a man of remarkable
power. After he was converted he joined the church.
Now thousands of heathen flock to hear him, and he
frequently invites a missionary to preach. He has
already erected two monster buildings, and some half-
dozen more are in course of construction. I visited
this extraordinary man in company with Thomas,
Vinton, and Shapp. We travelled in a springless
ox-cart, and, getting lost in the jungle, wandered
about in the bushes hunting for a road. It was nearly
midnight. After a while, another ox-combination
came along, and while we were asking them to point
out the road, an ox, in order not to lose any time or

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304 THE CAT IN THE BAG

economize any energy, gave me a terrific kick on the
knee joint. Fortunately, four dozens of pain killer
were in the cart. A less quantity would have been
sufficient. We reached our destination after midnight.
Here were huge buildings in the midst of the jungle,
built and paid for by the heathen. A rest-house, two
hundred and eighty feet long, and a granary the
same length, attracted my attention. On our arrival
word was sent out by the Prophet's runners, and won-
derful to relate, at nine o'clock in the morning nearly a
thousand people crowded into the auditorium to hear
the Gospel, and an equally large audience gathered at
noon. The Prophet has raised from the natives over
four lacs of rupees for Christian work. He owns noth-
ing himself except a steam launch, which is for the
use of missionaries. He will not allow his picture to be
taken for fear the people would worship it, his instruc-
tions to the contrary notwithstanding. When the col-
lection is taken, the people crowd forward and drop
their contributions into a silver vessel containing water.
" Money is hot," he says, " and should be cooled off."
He is a kind, humble, magnetic man.

Another day, a few of us went out into the jungle to
hunt. Having heard much about the size of the wild
boars, the deer, tigers and snakes, I suggested that
we should climb trees with our guns while the natives
beat the jungle and set it on fire. On account of my
mishap with the active ox, I found it difficult to per-
form the feat of " shinning up," as the boys say, and
then found it harder still to maintain my position on
the perch. However, I steadied myself while the bush
was beaten, and out popped a wild cat and a
deer. I bagged the former at seventy-five yards with
my revolver, but the deer evidently had urgent
business elsewhere, and vanished before the hunters

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MISTAKES OF MISSIONARIES 305

could shoot it ! So the cat constituted the bag, and we
took it back with us and had it cooked at a native
village near by. I sat on the floor with the Karens
and the cat was served a la fingers. The natives en-
joy the flavour of wild cat. I myself ate a morsel
and found it very tasty! I was seized with an
irresistible fit of generosity and left the remainder for
the natives. That is the first time I have eaten cat to
my knowledge! But it was a case of "What's in a
name ? " and the associations of the animal just then
occurred to me. But I have dined at restaurants all
over the world, and feline ingredients may possibly
have masqueraded as " dry hash ! *'

Even missionaries are fallible. With much diffi-
dence and caution, I herein offer this criticism of mis-
sionaries, those good people who, like the rest of
us, sometimes make mistakes. Some would suggest
that the missionary is a sort of celestial being let down
upon the earth, like Peter's Sheet, for admiration
alone, and is altogether too heavenly to be corrected.
With all such I hereby disagree, and so will the mis-
sionary.

Mistake No. i. Not employing more servants.
Missionaries should be severely censured (there are
exceptions) for not keeping more servants. To
illustrate: milk is needed, especially for infants and
invalids. Chinese cows give little milk, and one baby
in Giowtung can use all that can be got from one cow !
At home milk is brought to the door by the milk-
man, who is a servant of many people. Here the cow
has to be bought, and a man trained to milk it and
look after it. This is one servant the missionary
should employ. The corresponding servant at home
is a smart milkman who can serve many families.
The milkman here is a duffer, and has to be taught

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3o6 THE SERVANT QUESTION

by the missionary who, may be, knows little about the
matter himself. So it is better, cheaper, and safer
to see to the matter himself. But the missionary
should employ a milkman! Then, too, water. Hot
and cold water are " laid on '* in the houses of many
labouring men at home by the water companies, who
are the servants ( ?) of the public. Missionaries must
hire men to draw water and bring it to the mission
house. It is nonsense for them to think of getting on
without water; they would soon be indistinguishable
from the heathen !

A cook is a great nuisance in China. He has to do
the buying and makes a squeeze on all purchases. In
the Celestial Empire you have to haggle over the
price of everything, even cabbages and potatoes.
Suppose instead of the women missionaries learning
the language and teaching the people, they went in
for street talk, and spent an hour a day in getting
bargains in the way of cabbages, radishes, thin legs of
mutton and so forth, they would have lots of fun,
stacks of it, but every critic would say (and they truly
do say) " Why does not that woman set to work and
teach the people? She was not sent out to haggle
and make bargains, but to teach and preach."' The
homes of missionaries are open houses, and must the
missionary's wife cook for all ?

In America and Europe when children are old
enough, they are sent off to schools for five hours a
day, giving the mother rest and time for other duties.
But here the missionary lady has to instruct her own
children. She should have a teacher for the children.
The missionaries should have as many servants as the
working people at home. Folks at home have armies
of servants! Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers,
electrical engineers, water engineers, milkmen, school

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GUNS FOR MISSIONARIES 307

teachers, doctors and preachers. Poor servant-starved
missionary! Here the pioneer of the Gospel has to
be all these at once. Outside the ports the cook gets
less than two gold dollars per month, and he gets
everything else he can, and must be taught in every
department, for he is green as onion tops.

Mistake No. 2. Not keeping and using firearms!
While writing the last sentence in Old Pan's monster
inn at Chusiung Fu in Yunnan Province, it was sug-
gested that the pay of missionaries is not sufficient
to enable them to procure the necessary servants.
Hundreds of missionaries in the Central Kingdom
receive but twenty gold dollars a month. The labour-
ing man who comes to my residence in beautiful
Doylestown, to plant onions or dig post holes, gets more
than that He has forty gold dollars a month, or at
least thirty-six. He is a first-rate man, the post-digger
and onion-planter, but no great amount of money has
been spent upon his education. He has a commoa
school education. But here in China are medical men,
University graduates, with academic degrees; men of
profound thought and stupendous energy, who are
working for twenty gold dollars a month, and are
working hard. I have not heard one missionary in
China complaining that he received too little salary.
I know some get higher wages than these figures, but
I am speaking of the hundreds of earnest missionaries
who work for small amounts,

" A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards
Has ta'en with equal thanks."

All the way across China I carried a repeating rifle,
full to the brim with cartridges, for the sole purpose of
shooting Chinese — ^game. For protection from the
people firearms are less necessary than in certain
American cities, where periodical hold-ups on modern

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|3o8 THE USES OF SPORT

scientific principles prove the superiority of the West-
em rascal over his Eastern brother. For ninety-nine
days I travelled across the Great Empire, with its four
hundred millions of people and scores of dialects,
by night and day. I was not only not molested, but,
more than that, kindnesses were showered upon me as
the rose petals were on Anthony the day Caesar re-
fused the thrice-oflfered crown. Missionaries are cau-
tious, but they are not cowards. They should keep
guns and ammunition to supply their tables with game.
The ducks, geese and edible cranes are numerous.
On the Talifu Plain a passing British Consul-General
found fourteen varieties of wild fowl. Let the
Christian worker take a half-hour in the morning
and bring in a fine bird for dinner. It would be a
welcome change and freshen him up for the duties
he has to perform. Where the variety of good food is
scant, a fine bird would not displease the family. Send
your missionary friend a good fowling-piece and a
thousand rounds of ammunition. Be sure to prepay
the freight and insure the gun.

Mistakes general. Now that my joumeyings in
China are completed, I wish to testify to the culture,
kindness, and commonsense of the missionary body as
a whole. Indeed, in all these things I have found them
vastly superior to the tramp critics who have taken
their cream, accepted their good offices, and then
written or spoken from the bias of their own careless
thinking. An across-China traveller, who said of his
father "I suppose the old fool is pra3ring for me now,"
had the following interesting experiences at a mission-
ar/s home. "The cream had been taken off the
day*s milk to do the stranger honour. He was, of
course, entertained free. At tea three ladies were
present, two unmarried. The grand traveller, who

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A MIGHTY NIMROD 3C9

afterwards sneered at ladies, liked the cream, and the
others generously let him have it. The doctor swal-
lowed it all! Cleared the plate! Complete victory!
Brave man! Polite man! Respector of ladies!

Doctor! Bah! this same man talked about Miss

of Suifu. He talked about Chowtung and Tong-
chuan." Shades of George Washington! His criti-
cisms are the undigested observations of a reserveless
man. What a critic of missions ! Men who would not
steal a copper, will steal a good missionary's reputa-
tion. It is not always true that

"A dunce that has been sent to roam
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home."

A certain man went hunting in the delta of the Ir-
rawaddy. A mighty Nimrod was he. Four men ac-
companied him. One carried the gun, one the ladder,
one the umbrella, and the fourth whiskey and soda.
He was more expert with the last than with the
first. A dazed deer stood by a tree while he fired at
it four times. Failing to hit it, he handed the rifle to
a native who killed the deer at the first shot. The gen-
tleman had taken so much liquid refreshment that he
saw double and shot the wrong deer! Let us listen
to his opinion of missions and missionaries! Yet in
the club, where liquid is dispensed, his statements
" from personal knowledge " will be applauded ! But
there are honourable, intelligent, conscientious critics
of missions. To such, facts will appeal.

The business methods of the missionaries are to be
commended. They handle the Lord's money given
by His people in the most careful way. The China
Inland Mission undertook to finance me across China.
That IS, in Shanghai I turned over so many hundred
gold dollars to them, and they gave me sight drafts on
anyplace where they have central stations and wherever

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310 PILLS

I would want money. Without a single exception,
everything was promptly done. Good business men
are attending to the mission merchandise. The
missionary societies are doing a splendid work, the
self-sacrifice and devotion of their representatives
being beyond all praise. Never have I seen money go
further in accomplishing the purpose for which it was
given.

I would give another kindly word of caution to the
missionaries — ^avoid hobby-riding. Let this be written
large! Let the cranks at home ride hobbies. Keep
off side-tracks 1 Take bile pills when the liver is out
of order. You may be a firm or confirmed faith curist ;
I shall not interfere with you on that score, but for
the sake of the persons about you, take pills and prayer
mixed. On different parts of this planet I have met
educated, earnest, energetic missionaries who have
held to the no-medicine idea. They have, at times,
made the night hideous and the day nerve-destro)ring
to those around them. Take pills, brother, take pills !
It does not discredit the ability and power of the
Supreme Being to cure yourself with medicine. Re-
member that

"Wisdom IS ofttimes nearer when we stoop,
Than when we soar."

Take prayers and pills for physical ills, and do not
scar and mar the tempers near you. If you will hold
to the no-medicine idea, then use the graces plenti-
fully to keep yourself comfortable and not cause others
to suffer from your weak faith! Missionaries in
China should not "have nerves."

And now my long and varied journey is over. This
volume should have a peculiar flavour, for it has been
written on the wing — ^parts in native inns at nights,
parts while riding in a mountain chair, parts in the

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MISSIONS AND COMMERCE 311

snows of lofty mountain passes, parts on the hot low-
lands, parts in the homes of missionaries, parts on
boats sailing up the mighty Yangtze, and parts while
waiting for the faithful, plodding coolies to catch up
with me after a lively sprint. It has been prepared
by light and night, some written by hand, some dic-
tated to my secretary, and some struck off on my
own typewriter. As I look back over the route, I
think of the many labourers who are spending life and
money to lift up the Chinese into a better life They
are nobly doing a grand work without snivelling. This
work should appeal to all classes — to those who gladly
pay God's taxes as well as the country's taxes, and
esteem it a privilege as well as a duty to help precious
souls, and to those who in any way, direct or indirect,
have business relations with China. The missionaries
open the way for commerce and trade. The mission-
aries make the best books on China, both English and
native.

The missionaries set a godly example of high spir-
itual living to the Chinese, for which they are heartily
and cordially despised by the European winebibber and
profligate. The highest officers of the United States
Government in Peking and Shanghai employ men for
translators and interpreters who have had experience
as missionaries, and the men who now do the trans-
lating for the American Minister in. Peking and the
Consul-General in Shanghai got their experience and
knowledge of China and the Chinese language in the
slums and smells of Chinese cities, just as other mis-
sionaries are doing. The outport Consuls would em-
ploy missionaries as translators if they could get them
to give up missionary work.

But what I admired most in missionaries was their
sincere devotion to duty and their inflexible determina*

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312 DEVOTION TO DUTY

tion to win. None doubted the final issue. Few were
discouraged. And yet they live in cities along
whose streets the foreign diplomats would hold their
noses. The English language is too poverty-stricken
to describe the odours of a Chinese intra-mural town.
The missionaries make their abodes in these same
towns and cities, for immortal souls are there. Let me
repeat it, they are doing a splendid work for God and
for the world. And those who work with them, in
the glorious cause of winning men for Christ, should
afford them their cordial sympathy and their generous
support.

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
BePER£NCE DBPARTMeNT

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